2017 Mandela Washington Fellowship & My Experience in the USA
I have always dreamt of visiting the United States of America and that dream has become a reality.
When I was reading the “YALI Selection” email from the U.S. Embassy, I was over the moon! I read the same email over 5 times that morning! The excitement in me was beyond control.
However, the excitement quickly turned into a great challenge for me—I thought hard of how to fully take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to benefit myself as well as students in rural civic leadership and human rights activism in my country! I also had in mind that each of the few of us from my country who were selected had to fetch as many skills and resources as possible to have a significant impact on the lives of the remaining millions of South Sudanese who are in a traumatized stage of war.
My Experience in the USA and State of Delaware:
I got to meet and connect with different young African leaders who are passionate about the Beloved African continent. Nevertheless, I also had a great chance to meet Delaware government officials and educators who were all willing to work with us, educate us and share their experiences to help us as young leaders, achieve our goals. My goal is to impact learning in rural areas of Africa, specifically in my motherland of South Sudan.
Overall, my experience in the U.S. has been a challenge to think more strategically and to believe in my potential as a young leader! The many changes of climate, food and more have also been challenging. I have spent two solid weeks in the State of Delaware.
My involvement in a team learning environment at the University has been a great experience. When we were assigned teams at the end of the first week, I did not really know what to expect.
Currently at the University of Delaware, students come from many countries around the world. As a host of the Mandala Washington Fellowship in this aspect, I believe that my experience is similar to life at a University because I, as well, have to communicate with people who have different nationalities and speak different languages. Nationality and language are factors that usually prevent me from assimilating into a new environment. However, I think the experience at the University of Delaware will help me overcome these obstacles and the challenges of nationality and language barriers.
In the course of just two weeks, I learned communications skills and experienced a lot of networking, team work and have had the chance to see many sights in the state of Delaware, including Longwood Gardens, where I learned about many different flowers and how they are maintained. All in all, my experience has been full of laughter, learning, networking and eating different kinds of food.
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Asan Juma Sulieman Ramadan, from South Sudan, has over three years of working experience in community programs and development, specifically focusing on free human rights abuses and LGBTIQ rights. Currently, Asan works as the Executive Director of Access for All South Sudan (AFA), which focuses on creating a stigma-free society in South Sudan. Asan holds a diploma from the Makarere Business Institute in Kampala, Uganda. As a young feminist and LGBTIQ activist, Asan is committed to working towards a stigma-free society where sexual minorities have equal opportunity. sexual minorities have equal opportunity. |