“…we have much work to do for the continent, both intellectually and practically.” — Naseemah

2014—2015

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From the editors

Rafikizolo is a publication featuring alumni, current students and friends of HASA,

through which they share their individual educational and career stories. The hope is that

the stories presented in this inaugural issue will inspire us to consider new opportunities

and interests, and that this publication will encourage mentorship and foster friendships

within HASA and beyond Harvard.

I had an amazing

experience working on this

publication. Indeed it was such

a delight meeting the

contributors, understanding

their interesting backgrounds,

and appreciating the

uniqueness of their individual

success stories. I would like to

use this chance to thank all our

generous contributors (who I’ll

let my co-editor introduce),

and my co-editor, Yusuph

Mkangara, who has been absolutely phenomenal to work

with.

We hope that after reading this publication, you will be compelled to engage in a

conversation with the contributors or reach out to Yusuph and me with comments and

approbations regarding this issue. We look forward to future issues of Rafikizolo.

All best wishes,

John Langat

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When I first came to Harvard, my knowledge of HASA was limited to the name. The

name promised a community of Africans and people with interests regarding Africa.

However, the name alone does not tell the individual stories carried by each member of

HASA. When John Langat approached me to ask if I would be interested in helping him start

to put some of these stories in a publication, I jumped at the opportunity. I was most

excited to be able to sit and hear from some of HASA’s members about their own stories.

Because I had also not seen a similar written publication, it was intriguing to think about

how John and I would have an opportunity to set a precedent for HASA moving forward.

This publication featured Naseemah

Mohammed discussing education-

based community involvement,

Rahim Mawji’s insight regarding the

benefits of taking a breather from

Harvard life, Chisom Okpala’s

inspiring entrepreneurship goals,

Megan White Mukuria’s remarks on

connecting with the continent, and

Salathiel Ntakirutimana’s exploits at

Harvard. These five people are just a

few of the great minds that are a part

of HASA. We are truly fortunate to be able to walk amongst them and learn from them

while in the yard and beyond.

Warmly and with gratitude,

Yusuph

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Megan Mukuria

Megan is the founder and CEO of ZanaAfrica, a nonprofit organization that develops and distributes

affordable sanitary pads in the interest of keeping girls in school. She graduated from Harvard College

in 1999 and is also the current Chairperson of Harvard Club of Kenya.

About my visit to Kenya

After becoming a Christian in college, I wanted to understand the faith life outside America,

particularly in Africa. But more importantly, I thought the media’s coverage of Africa was

wrong and I wanted to understand that point of contention. When I went to Kenya in 1998

with a group from Harvard, I worked with girls who had just left full-time street life and

helped them find their way back to school. When I came back to Harvard, I dropped my

thesis, decided to study Swahili, and started writing postcards in Swahili so as to integrate

my studies with my Kenyan experience and stay connected. Following my graduation from

Harvard with a degree in Psychology, I wanted to focus on being mentored rather that

prioritizing a lucrative job. After serving a volunteer campus minister with InterVarsity at

Harvard and Roxbury Community College while also working at an Internet start-up, I was

invited back to Kenya and moved there in August 2001. While helping street children to

leave the streets and go as far in education as they could, I found sanitary pads were girls’

second biggest cost. I realized we needed to solve that problem as society and that it could

help fund non-profit work with girls’ empowerment. So since 2007 I started ZanaAfrica to

focus on solving the sanitary pad problem (4 in 5 girls and women can’t access pads),

particularly to help keep girls in school and provide income generating opportunities for

their mothers.

Harvard Club of Kenya

Initially, there was a

Harvard-Yale Club— back

in the 80’s—but it fizzled

out and for nearly two

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decades there was no Club. As it is now, the Harvard Club of Kenya, through its mission to

build a strong community of Harvard alumni in the country, has grown a lot over the years

since a number of us founded in in 2011 in terms of both membership and club events.

Being the Chairperson, and particularly having the opportunity to interview Harvard

applicants over the last 12 years and help them prepare for college has been a very exciting

experience for me. And that’s especially because I didn’t have a single Kenyan in my class of

1999, yet Harvard used to have brilliant and interesting Kenyans like Tom Mboya and

Obama’s father, to name but a few. And so I have always wanted to help students as much

as I could, and as part of HCK, help create a vibrant club to welcome them back. As part of

our club agenda going forward, we hope to help create a funding program for Kenyan

graduate students and we are also part of an effort to establish the Kenya Ivy League

Network that will represent more than just a Harvard niche, because that is really the

bright future that will, in general, help reshape America’s image of Africa and help build the

nation’s leadership into the future.

GOOD Magazine

From the few places in Africa that I have visited, including Kenya, Tanzania, and South

Africa, my experience in Cape Town is well etched in my mind. I was one of only five people

to be invited to a week-long Fellowship by the GOOD Magazine to discuss breaking ideas in

health care in Africa. The Pioneers in Health: Africa Edition represented a movement that is

basically about developing low cost and locally-based initiatives aimed at raising the

quality of lives for people across the continent. But it was a particularly memorable and

touching experience because it was during the same week that Mandela passed away and

we got to visit Robben Island and attended his memorial celebration in the stadium. I was

deeply moved by the atmosphere of ethnic unity among the South Africans and I felt how

important and meaningful that period was to all of us who wanted to make a difference in

Africa.

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Megan at ZanaAfrica's mobile app launch in Nairobi

Do you miss Harvard?

I really do miss the luxury of spending the whole day with amazing people, from having

lunch together, classes, or going out. I miss everything from being silly together with my

friends and going to the Leverett Open House for the Monkeybread. Those were precious

times! It’s sad that I don’t get as much luxury of time now, but I’m going to offer a few

pieces of advice that could enrich your undergraduate experience.

Take classes that you like

Your Harvard experience is really about figuring out who you are. We all come into college

with expectations from others or ourselves about what we “should” do. Instead, pour

through the course catalogue and see what speaks to you and take classes that get you

excited. Join Clubs, explore Boston – really be curious about your internal and external

world. And you will not only have a full experience but will probably be happier in your

future career.

Come back home!

Imagine that the African immigrant population in the US doubles each decade; what if all

these educated people all moved back? Truth is, there are so many exciting opportunities

across the continent, and here in Kenya. At the moment, ZanaAfrica has created a Harvard

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Diaspora Fellowship to help accentuate the all-important message that “Africa is a place I

could live in the future” and to allow undergrads an opportunity to work in a social

enterprise in Nairobi. Use some of the abundant summer fellowship funding available to go

work someplace of interest doing something that engages you in Africa or other places

around the world and be open to how it might shape your trajectory.

Rahim Mawji

Rahim is a second-semester junior in Quincy House, concentrating in Sociology and African Studies

and he’s planning to do a thesis on leadership development in Africa.

Early Life

I was born in Kenya but lived in

Tanzania for the first four years

of my life. I moved back to Kenya

where I did my nursery and

primary school in Kisumu, and

then went to the Aga Khan High

School in Nairobi. In 2008, I won

the Gakio-Walton Scholarship to

attend Choate Rosemary Hall in

Connecticut, where I completed

my high school, and then applied

to Harvard.

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Harvard and HASA

During my time here, I’ve hopped around a lot in terms of coursework. I’ve taken a bunch

of Econ classes, a bit of Psychology, Sociology, CS50, Religion, and Philosophy. On the

whole, I have taken an approach where I have tried to broaden my undergraduate

experience rather than focus on one area because I figured that I could do the focusing in

graduate school. And so for grad school, I’m thinking about a Masters in either

Development Studies or Development Economics, hopefully after working for a few years

or doing a fellowship to gain the relevant experience.

I enjoyed my time as HASA president. I run for president as a sophomore and so I had

limited experience in HASA but I was able to find my level and it ended up being a truly

wonderful time. We (the board) tried to involve especially the freshmen in every activity

right from the get-go, from the Fall Feast to Africa Night. During that time, we reinvigorated

the organization by starting the HASA Facebook page, the YouTube page, LinkedIn, and

developed an alumni list. And even after my term ended, I have still remained active within

HASA and will remain so in the foreseeable future.

Time-Off

After my sophomore summer internship at Goldman Sachs, I realized that I needed time to

figure out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to head to. So I decided to take time off

my Junior Spring. During those 8 months, I read a lot, wrote journals, and did couch surfing

and backpacking in Southeast Asia and East Africa. For the first time, I had enough time to

reflect on my life without worrying about assignments or deadlines. I think that really

helped me gain a lot of different perspectives and figure out the things about Harvard that I

like most and focus on them, including the people that I enjoy spending my time with and

the things that I hoped to accomplish in college.

Harvard African Young Leaders Initiative

It’s a project that is still in its development stage. Essentially, it is a 2-3 week camp for high-

performing kids, about 30 or so, from both public and private schools in Tanzania. Our

mission is to inculcate leadership, advance creativity and inspire critical thinking among

the students through project-discussion sessions and guest lectures. Eventually, we hope to

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get the kids to apply to schools that will extend their newly-acquired skills, including elite

American schools as well as the African Leadership Academy (ALA). And I hope to

somehow tie this leadership initiative project with my thesis.

Final thoughts?

I would advise everyone to think about taking time off because it’s very rewarding, and

contrary to popular belief, relatively easy to do it. Taking a semester off lets you see the

best of Harvard away from Harvard. You also get to enjoy an extra senior summer and

semester—an experience which Fatou Fall refers to as “like being a freshman again”.

Explore Harvard; explore things out of your comfort zone, as long as you’re interested in

them.

In addition, have some random late-night conversations with friends—those conversations

that really make you see things differently. I find that the richness of our individual

experiences and individual stories not only introduces you to the diverse passions of some

very interesting and brilliant people but it also lets you discover so many things that you

have in common with each other. You may also discover a thing or two about yourself just

by hanging out with cool people.

Naseemah Mohamed Ogunnaike

About her: Naseemah Mohamed Ogunnaike graduated in 2012 and is currently a Resident Tutor in

Adams House. While at Harvard she served as HASA freshman representative, social chair and

president. She was awarded the annual Harvard College Women’s Leadership award, the Harvard

Foundation Insignia Award, Celebration of Black Women award and the Dorothy Hicks Lee Thesis

Award. She was a Mellon Mays fellow and Weatherhead Center fellowship recipient. As a senior, she

won the Michael Rockefeller travel fellowship to travel to India for a year to study Indian Classical

dance. Upon completing her year in India she was a Zimbabwe Rhodes Scholar recipient and

completed her Master’s in Comparative International Education Policy. She is currently a Pre-

Doctoral Fellow at Harvard, working as the African programs director of Harvard’s Cultural Agents

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Initiative. Upon completing her fellowship at Cultural Agents she will resume the Rhodes Scholarship

at Oxford as a PhD candidate in Education Policy.

What do you remember from your freshman experience?

Of course the most important memories I have are of the friends I made, mostly through

HASA. Rumbi Mushavi, Pauline Mutumwinka, and Kennedy Mukuna became my block

mates and I consider them my siblings to this day. Each of them took part in my wedding

this year! I also remember my freshman summer vividly. I worked for the Standard

newspaper in Nairobi as a journalist, and wrote stories ranging from government

corruption, to health care, to education. I even got a chance to write my own articles on

Zimbabwe and travel blogs from my trips across the country. My favorite town was

definitely Mombasa—it was so beautiful.

What are your most memorable experiences at Harvard?

My most memorable experiences at Harvard were comprised of my classes, my friends and

my Professors. Much of my social and extracurricular experiences revolved around HASA. I

made life-long friends and went on some wonderful outings. I loved my Professors,

particularly in the AAAS department, because they were, and still continue to be my

mentors. I would definitely relive the experience of working through my Social

Engagement thesis Project because I not only learned so much from the experience but

because it also inspired me to work within Education Policy. Being Dorm Crew captain also

taught me a lot about leadership.

Tell us about your Social Engagement in Zimbabwe. What inspired your thesis?

The African and African American Studies Department is the only department at Harvard

that allows students to carry out a community project as part of their thesis. I did a joint

degree in Social Studies and African Studies.

Briefly, in addition to the written portion, my thesis included a community project in which

I teamed up local artists with high school teachers to develop a curriculum that would help

teachers teach difficult literature through the arts. I then implemented the project in a

school in my hometown of Bulawayo for the summer, and carried out pre- and post-

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assessments to determine the project’s effectiveness. I chose this topic because I was

interested in education, development, and making a difference back home, but I also

wanted to leverage my time and the resources available at Harvard— not only the money (I

was awarded generous grants from the university) but also the professors from the

Kennedy School, HGSE and the AAAS, Social Studies departments. Planning and carrying

out a community project is by nature multi-disciplinary, so I was grateful to be able to tap

into the support network that Harvard offers.

Why Education in Zimbabwe?

A Social Engagement thesis has so many components. I had such a short time to create a

program that was both effective and ethical; it therefore made sense for logistical reasons

to do it in a place with which I was very familiar. So during my sophomore summer, I

applied for funding to do a survey in

Zimbabwe; at first, I was considering

carrying out library projects in different

areas. After the survey I realized that

although there were enough libraries,

students weren’t excited about reading, in

part due to the fact that they were taught

using colonial vestiges of education i.e.

rote learning and corporal punishment

(which we all know were intended to

produce a servile, cleric population rather

than a creative, engaged and critical thinking population). From my own personal

experience with rote learning and corporal punishment, having attended a government

school in Zimbabwe, I knew that best students were the ones who were able to memorize

everything. Moreover corporal punishment is ineffective in the classroom because different

students respond differently to punishment, and research has shown that witnessing and

experiencing physical punishment can have long term behavioral and cognitive effects in

some children.

Beyond even the adverse effects of corporal punishment, I think the deeper problem, not

only in Zimbabwe but in the majority of post-colonial African countries is that African

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schools have kept the colonial skeleton of education that were put in place to subdue us, to

teach us that our languages, traditions and values are inferior to those of the West. They’re

still in place and they’re still having the same effect. Unfortunately, when you keep those

same pedagogies and curriculums, it affects student learning and creates students who are

less critical, who get shamed and beaten for speaking their mother tongues in class. These

are the kinds of problems that I realized when I went back. That realization shifted the

focus of my project to classrooms and teachers.

So how do you change these practices?

When I got back to Harvard I met Professor Doris Sommer who runs Pre-Texts. Basically,

Pre-Texts is a program that trains teachers how to use the arts—like music and dance—as

a means of teaching. What drew me to it is that the art forms can be traditional, so that the

program would not only get students more engaged and motivated, but that using the

traditional arts as a means of teaching would disrupt the Western cultural bias embedded

within the education curriculum. Using the arts as a pedagogical method would also

improve students’ self-esteem because they’d be allowed to showcase each of their

different talents. Mutual admiration and appreciation would, and did in case of my project,

lead to changes in class dynamics and student-teacher relationships. The program was

successful and eventually led to the training of Ministry officials who intended to roll out

the program to different schools in different parts of the country. Unfortunately, a

combination of financial constraints and political issues stalled the program.

Do you visualize yourself doing something different, say private sector engagement?

In my view, there is little disconnect between the private and public sectors. Nothing is

entirely private; institutions, policies and actions affect everybody in our connected world.

We are beginning to see this more and more with climate change, technology, how markets

affect each other, and global policies. People need to rethink economic policies and the idea

of privatization because public sector and private sector are inextricably linked.

What advice would you give current students who want to make a difference on the

continent?

The first step is to understand the roots of the problem you want to address— it’s not

enough to just pinpoint the problem and its effects, but understand it from a historical

perspective. Know your history. As an African Studies major, I would be remiss not to

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mention that you should think very critically about what “development” means for Africa

as a continent. The phrase has become buzzword, but both in practice and in theory, is

more often than not imbued with Western bias and capitalist undertones that often

undermine African traditions and communities. I’ve read a few articles on the

“development” of Nigeria’s economy when it surpassed South Africa’s GDP. Not many of

those articles noted that much of the increased GDP is due to oil exports—how much does

oil production benefit the overall population vs. make the few rich people richer? For me,

development is a two way street—while we can learn Western philosophy and gain from

the technology produced in the West, we too, have philosophies, values, and perspectives

that can be of use to the West, and we can equally develop technologies that can be used

here. I laughed a few weeks ago when I read an article in a US magazine about the health

benefits of tying one’s baby on one’s back—that’s a practice that we Zimbabweans have

been doing for generations!

I think that the West is beginning to reach a somewhat self-reflective point in realizing that

it doesn’t have all the answers- that the current capitalist economy is unsustainable

(environmentally and socially), that consumerism has negative social side-effects, and that

individualism and utilitarianism can lead to a fractured society. In part, this is why

mindfulness meditation and yoga courses are becoming all the rage, because there is an

increasingly pervasive lack of humanity (some might say, or add, spirituality) in the way

that we live. I think that many of our differing African philosophies/perspectives and

traditions can help address these issues, but are being eroded and undermined by

“development” projects. I’m not staying that it is not important to create jobs, to fight

poverty, to build hospitals etc. or that organizations that help do these things should not be

valued. What I am saying is that we should not assume that we are less “advanced” as

African peoples because we are adopting technologies from abroad. Let’s not all become

neo-liberal capitalists before understanding our own philosophies and values and being

critical of the pitfalls of the Western notions of development.

Those pitfalls were not often taught to me at Harvard as an undergrad. As a Social Studies

major, with the exception of a single class taught by Stephen Marglin, I read solely from the

Western cannon, but I also took packed classes on Chinese philosophies and ethics. But it

was rare that we studied Africa and Africans in terms of what we could learn from their

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traditions, philosophies, and practices, unlike Professor Puett’s class, which encouraged us

to apply Confucius’ ideas to our own lives. When will African thought be taken seriously in

this way?

I took economics classes that hailed neo-liberal economic policies being implemented by

the World Bank and the IMF, and only later realized that the same neo-liberalist and

structural adjustment policies undermined social programs of African nations, increased

their genii coefficients of countries (differences between rich and poor), and derailed local

industries and economies by enforcing “free-trade” policies which flooded the markets

with cheaper Chinese and Western products (often subsidized by Western governments).

This is not to say that I did not learn a great deal in my Social Studies and economics

courses, but we should be critical of the works we are studying and the perspectives we are

told to adopt in studying these works. As Africans in a very privileged position, we have

much work to do for the continent, both intellectually and practically.

Naseemah with her classmates

What advice would you give current African students? Believe in your intellectual

capacity without questioning whether you “belong here”. Don’t be afraid to apply for

anything that comes your way—fellowships, grants, scholarships. Take advantage of social

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services like the Bureau of Study Counsel, both for academic support and personal

counseling. Be passionate about what you’re doing. It’s also important that you spend time

wisely and don’t overcommit. I know from personal experience that a lot of Harvard

students get caught up in trying to do far too many extracurricular activities, leaving little

time to reflect on what they’ve earned and what they intend to do with this knowledge

after Harvard.

Practically, if you’re interested in particular professions reach out to alumni and people in

those fields early so that you can begin to explore them and make the most of your time at

Harvard. If you can, try to identify people in the fields you are interested in who inspire

you. Study the paths they took to their current careers so that you can begin doing the

same. In fact, even outside of professions, it is important to have people to whom you look

up, who inspire you to continue to better yourself. Also attend more talks and conferences

at Harvard so that you can broaden and challenge your perspectives—Harvard is really an

incredible rich intellectual place, push yourself beyond your comfort zone! And finally, call

your parents often!

Chisom Okpala Chisom is a senior in Lowell House, concentrating in Economics with a secondary in African Studies

and a citation in Igbo.

Harvard Transition

I was born and raised in Nigeria, so coming to Harvard was like being transposed to a

whole new world; it was a huge transition for me. My freshman year was fun but also the

most challenging; there were a lot of firsts--from figuring out my first (college) courses to

surviving my first winter. But I’ve now gotten into the rhythm of things and have made

lifetime friendships over my time here at Harvard.

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HABIC

I had a wonderful

experience with HABIC,

especially when I was

president. It was

obviously very

challenging because

before then, it was just

an inactive organization

with no events. So we

basically had to start

from scratch to build the

organization, and that

restructuring involved a lot of outreach and strategic planning. We reached out to alumni

and professors, and tried to get the campus excited about engaging in business and

economic development on the continent. Looking at how HABIC has grown over the past

year or two, I can proudly say that it was a very rewarding experience for me.

Can you tell us about your experience being the 2015 Second Class Marshal?

From organizing social events to starting up new initiatives that foster class unity, it’s been

an amazing experience. It’s also been my life this senior year! I love that I’m working with

such a dedicated group-- the senior class committee-- which has an amazing team dynamic.

And I think it is especially important for me because what has made my Harvard

experience are the people. This position has enabled me to give back to this awesome

bunch that is the Harvard Class of 2015, essentially making sure that everyone leaves

Harvard on a high note.

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Favorite summer experience?

It would have to be my freshman summer when I went to China. I worked in an orphanage

with some wonderful kids. It was a very interesting experience as I was totally immersed in

a different culture and didn’t even speak Mandarin Chinese. But I think that getting such an

opportunity to give back early on in my college career set the tone for the rest of my college

experience.

What will you miss most when you graduate? Without a doubt, it has to be the people –

HASA and beyond. One piece of advice that I would share with the underclassmen is to

build and strengthen your relationships with people around you because it will be hard to

be in a similar environment again, where you’re surrounded with so many intelligent and

motivated people who are figuring it out just like you.

Long-term plans? Right out of college, I’ll be working in consulting at the New York office

of Bain & Company. I’m definitely an entrepreneur at heart and know that in the long term,

I want to make an impact in Africa. I currently have an African fashion company, Akwora

Clothing, which specializes in clothing made in Nigeria.

Salathiel Ntakirutimana

Salathiel Ntakirutimana is a junior in Currier

House, concentrating in Electrical Engineering.

He is Burundian, has a passion for youth

education and likes travelling.

Tell us about your overall Harvard and

HASA experience.

Save for the many “lamonsting” experiences,

my Harvard experience has been terrific so far! :) HASA has been a real family for me.

During my freshman orientation week, HASA organized a number of special dinners during

which upperclassmen shared with us their college experiences and helped us think about

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our future college plans. The lessons I learnt from those meetings and the friends I made

are still invaluable to me even today.

What are your favorite summer experiences?

I spent most of my freshman summer in Shanghai, during which I was also able to travel to

other nearby cities like Beijing and Seoul. Living and working with people from that region

of East Asia was probably the biggest learning experience I had had. Last summer, I had a

wonderful opportunity of working in Nairobi with the Equity Group Foundation where I

witnessed education's transformative power through my experience with the Equity

African Leaders Program Scholars.

Of Summers and Fun Rides

What places in Africa have you visited and how was your experience there?

My travels in Africa have mostly been within East Africa but I have also toured a few

exciting destinations in Southern Africa like Mbabane, Swaziland and the beautiful

Johannesburg where I had amazing experiences. I was in Swaziland for my two years of IB.

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I also visited Nairobi and Kigali very recently with friends and we had fantastic experiences

in both cities. It was very exciting to witness how fast the economies of these East African

states are growing.

Any advice you can share with fellow students?

I would challenge all of us to occasionally think about whether we are getting from our

Harvard education exactly what we expected to get from it and adjust our (hopefully

flexible) plans accordingly.

For comments on this publication or questions for any of the contributors or

the editors, please send us an email at RafikiHasa@gmail.com.