The Impact of Alumni in Africa

October 7, 2020

By Li-Ming  Pan, Communications and External Relations Officer, Harvard Center for African Studies (e-mail: li-ming_pan@fas.harvard.edu)

Sangu and President Bacow
President Lawrence Bacow and Sangu Delle (AB’10, MBA’16, JD’16)

Sangu Delle, Co-Chair of the Leadership Council for the Center for African Studies (AB’10, MBA’16, JD’16), joined from Accra, Ghana, to kick-off the 24 Hours of Harvard event during Worldwide Week hosted by Vice Provost for International Affairs Mark Elliott. 24 Hours of Harvard was an event of 24 consecutive hours of virtual Harvard programming. An around-the-clock, around-the-world lineup of events and activities that underscores a striking point: at any hour of the day or night, no matter where you are, Harvard teaching, research, learning, and outreach is happening somewhere in the world.
 

Sangu joined Harvard President Lawrence Bacow for a conversation on Harvard in the World. Sangu brought in the perspective of an alum of three Harvard schools and discussed with President Bacow the role of alumni that live abroad. President Bacow had the same expectations for the alumni living abroad as he does those living in the U.S.: to be active, engaged citizens no matter where they are, to make the world a better place, and to be good representatives of the university. With great effort, the Harvard Club of Ghana was recently created to formally represent Harvard alumni in the area.
 

“Great education comes with great responsibility.” – President Lawrence Bacow
 

When asked about how international alumni support Harvard, President Bacow highlighted the importance of connecting international alumni to current international students. He also commented on how this was the longest time Sangu has been away from campus. Although the pandemic has kept us away from each other, there is an opportunity for us to meet virtually at forums like this event and continue to meaningfully engage with each other. Post-pandemic, we look forward to welcoming our alumni back to campus.
 

This conversation was the perfect segue into the Center for African Studies’ Africa Office’s segment, where we hosted a live panel of Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program (HSAFP) alumni on what they have been doing in response to COVID-19 in South Africa. The Africa Office, founded in 2017, is Harvard’s first multidisciplinary, interfaculty research office in Africa based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Africa Office serves as the locus for alumni outreach across the continent that support the work of Harvard faculty and students. Additionally, the Africa Office convenes conversations, discussions, celebrations, and conferences on the most important questions facing Africa and the international community today.

 

HSAFP Panel
Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program Alumni Panel

James Donald (CEO, Tomorrow Trust), Nkateko Mkhondo (World Health Organization), Chuma Qwalela (Strategy and Change Executive), Jimmy Volmink (Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University), and Shirley Zinn (Shirley Zinn Consulting) shared their Harvard experience through this fellowship. They elaborated on how they have been contributing to the COVID-19 response in South Africa.

 

The fellows shared their South African experience and how race controlled the way they think and affected their education. “Race defined us,” said Donald. At the time Professor Volmink was studying to be a doctor, the University of Cape Town was limited in the number of people of color who could study there. In a class of 180, he was one of only 5 not classified as white. This meant he needed a permit from the apartheid government to gain access to the ‘white university’ because he could not work on white cadavers or tend to white patients. In addition to this, he could not participate in mix-raced social or sporting events, and could not live in white residences. However, the fellowship allowed him to further his education to become the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University, the same university that rejected him for a post-graduate degree in the past.

 

Professor Volmink emphasized the importance of finding candidates for HSAFP, who have a track record of being dedicated to service and who can uplift communities. The education they receive at Harvard will become the gift that keeps on giving once the HSAFP alum returns to South Africa. As an example, we heard from each of the alum how they are giving back to the community, especially during the pandemic. Dr. Mkhondo has been part of the COVID-19 response team support department of health in KwaZulu-Natal, maintaining essential health services while responding to COVID-19. She brought a new perspective learned from her Harvard experience. She knew to look at different statistics such as lives saved, recoveries, and cases prevented. Mr. Donald shared how his organization in collaboration with the Department of Education has been using a Whatsapp line similarly used for the COVID-19 response to connect with teachers. This system can potentially reach up to 400K teachers with this effort. Ms. Qwalela working with United Way South Africa (UWSA) and COVID-19 has impacted how students receive meals. Students who normally have their meals at school were no longer able to, so UWSA has been reaching informal settlements and other communities that cannot access basic services to provide sustainable solutions from the secondary effects of COVID-19.

 

Their conversation showed how the fellowship impacted where they are in life today and wonderful examples of how Harvard alumni are active, engaged citizens in their community.
 

You can watch the event here: https://worldwide.harvard.edu/24hh-24-hours-harvard