The Change is You!

 

I am the youngest of five siblings, growing up I never really thought I had anything worthwhile to say amongst the already four other voices. There was always someone to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do, how I should be and shouldn’t be besides my parents. And being an introvert did not help my case though I found my safe spaces among certain of my siblings whose names I shall not mention for fear of igniting some world wars. Growing up and going through different stages in life, my ability to speak up or find my voice did not get upgraded much. Though I always had an opinion, just never the courage to say it because I thought it did not matter much.

Fast-forward to my college days, by this time I had somewhat formed a personality or had an idea of who I was becoming. It was at this point too I realized that every time I would see an injustice around my surroundings and wanted to do something to change it. Finding myself in a space where as girls we were treated unjustly only fueled my fire. But in all this I never opened my mouth, thinking that my personality deterred me from truly making an impact.

I love technology, what I love more is software development and young women taking part in fostering changes in society, however being in this technology space I have faced many challenges in doing either of these things. Some of which I often felt if addressed can be dealt with and pave a way for better collaboration and development of solutions. Crazy thing about life though is that it has a way of making you have a head collision with your fears, when I was in college I would comfort myself with the thought that someone else better qualified would start this revolution. Alas years continued to pass by, year after year and I had deluded myself that change was happening.

Till one day it came in the form of my eighteen year old niece. She had come over for a visit with her mum one day she was preparing to start her tenure at a local College in the country to study education humanities. In our conversation she made aware that for our Malawian curriculum computer studies classes were only offered to students in their senior classes who would be sitting for their MSCE(Malawi School leaving exams), and that even then it was set as an optional choice and not mandatory. What made sad about all this was how when entering the workforce young women like niece would find themselves severely behind than their male counterparts in digital skills. But what broke my heart more was how a desire of knowing and understanding technology for a young girl was dismissed.

This sobering moment made me realize that, that the revolution I was waiting for needed to start now but how could I start it. I was not an extrovert nor was I charismatic, yet action was calling. So I started with what I know, putting down my words of frustration on paper in the form of a blog. Still seeking a way to bring about some sort of change I stumbled upon one million leaders Africa fellowship program whose main goal is to raise a million leaders to bring about sustainable development. I applied, and a couple of weeks ago I found out I got in. In one of our orientation sessions they asked us what Africa needs to change, the answer was you are what Africa needs. A very ironic statement for it turns out. So I encourage you to remember this, next time you observe or experience something that stirs your heart to action, but your fear says to you that you are not the person for the job. The change is You!.