News
12 July, 2015
Africa’s Future Leaders Met at TI Summer School at MRU
International Students
Events
Summer School
Tomorrow's leaders of Africa are meeting today at the Transparency International (TI) Summer School being held at Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) July 6th-12th, 2015.
Participants come from over 60 countries including Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Some participants, already employed, said they were interested in meeting fellow youth leaders, and to find out about how to fight corruption during their time at the Summer School.
"It's very helpful," said Adanna Amaechi from Nigeria, who completed her Bachelor's Degree in Public Health in the U.S. this year and plans to return to Nigeria after graduate school.
"The contacts I made have been great. It's good to network and talk with people from Afghanistan, Egypt, Lithuania and France," she added.
There are more than 150 participants from over 60 countries attending this year's Summer School.
Adanna is planning to return to Nigeria to look for a job and perhaps run for public office one day. "I want to start at the grassroots level," she said adding that she needs to win the trust of her countrymen first.
Karolis Granickas, Lithuanian Transparency International (TI) Project Head said they are seeking to increase the numbers of participants from the African continent. Currently about 10% of those attending the TI School are from Africa.
"We don't have any ambitions to change Africa. Our focus is on the youth and that they understand the power they hold in their community," he said.
There are a lot of problems in the world. We just want people that come to understand that they can overcome that, he added.
Lawyer Kudakwashe Hove from Harare, Zimbabwe is another participant. He works for the NGO, Veritas, as a legal and information officer analyzing laws and and then uploading them on the website.
"Part of the work that we do at Veritas is to help government ministries draft laws," he said. "We lobby for good laws to be made."
After graduating from the University of South Africa in 2014, he is now working towards a Master's Degree online in the area of cyber regulation.
"The reason that I am doing my Master's is that we don't have any laws that regulate Internet use," he said.
He will use the knowledge he gains, to develop cyber regulation in Zimbabwe. In the future he hopes to pursue his doctoral degree.
Another participant is Uganda's Jackson Opio, who is the Head of the Health and Psychosocial Dept. of the NGO, the African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET). The NGO was founded by his twin brother, lawyer Victor Ochen. This year Ochen and the AYINET have been nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize.
Jackson, now working on completing his Master's Degree in Social Work in Berlin, plans to return to Uganda after graduation.
"I will go back. This is my dream. My vision is to work in a setting that has a bigger impact," he said adding that he would like to work in an international agency that would "give me the platform to act."
Coming from a large family with 9 siblings, Jackson knew about poverty firsthand. His parents struggled to put food on the table for their 10 children.
Having spent his childhood walking around barefoot, it was only when he turned 14 that he got a pair of shoes. That's why he appreciates so much the pair of stylish Bugatti shoes he got for his birthday, which he now wears around campus.
His mother died, due to lack of medical care, when he was 16 years old. His father never remarried.
At a young age, Jackson learned to cook and take care of the household. When he was 14 years old, he was growing maize. From the proceeds of the harvest he bought a school uniform, so that he could go to school. (In Uganda pupils are required to wear uniforms.)
Wherever he goes, Jackson is noticeable for his trademark smile. His life, however, is truly nothing to smile about.
His older brother was abducted in 2003 by the armed group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), not far from the village of Abia-Alebtong, where he was living with his family and 4 children.
"We can not confirm whether he was killed," Jackson says adding that neither his body, nor his grave have been found.
Due to the millions of people traumatized and injured by LRA soldiers, Jackson's twin brother founded the AYINET. It helps victims piece their lives back together through counseling, medical aid and other forms of assistance.
The victims include women, who have been raped, and now suffer from various illnesses and others who have been shot at and still have the bullets in their bodies. Some of the victims have had broken bones that have never healed properly and need medical attention.
"The background of this passion (I have) is coming from the LRA," Jackson said explaining how his brother's abduction grew into a lifelong interest in reaching out and helping other victims.
"I don't tell the victims "you suffered." I say: "we suffered," the 33-year-old Jackson explained.
"I know I'm one of the victims. I took the leadership position. If when you are inside, you can not change something, you have to get out and step outside of the situation," he said.
"If your vision is people driven, you will always look at people - someone who is sick or poor and this will be a great driving force in your work," he said.
Jackson said the time he has spent at the TI Summer School "has been instrumental in helping understand how destructive corruption is." In addition, he has been finding out "what roles individuals can play to fight corruption."
"It's like a life-long journey," he said. And the work never ends.