By Yassmine Eladib | International Media Manager
Rose grew up in a small village in Limpopo, South Africa, raised by her grandmother while her mother worked in another province. From an early age, she noticed how easily girls around her were forced to give up their education, often entering relationships with older men for financial support. Determined to take a different path, she focused on her studies. “I knew learning was my way forward,” she recalls.
Through the Ashinaga Africa Initiative (AAI), Rose spent a year in Uganda for leadership and academic preparation before starting her degree in Medical Anthropology at Okayama University in Japan. Her studies deepened her understanding of how health, gender, and social systems shape people’s lives, especially the barriers faced by women in marginalized communities. Reflecting on her own experiences growing up in South Africa, where many young women are forced to leave school or endure abuse due to a lack of financial support, she felt a growing responsibility to act.
During her time in Japan, she founded Tina, a nonprofit organization named after her late mother and inspired by the Zulu word for “us.” Tina became both a personal tribute and a social mission, a space to support young mothers and survivors of abuse, and to challenge the systemic injustices she had witnessed. Rose explains, “It is the men who have failed us. It is the justice system that has failed us. So we, as women, have to take action. We must be the ones standing on the frontlines to address the issues that directly affect us.”
Tina began by mentoring teenage girls in Limpopo in South Africa, helping them stay in school and make informed decisions about their futures. Over time, the organization expanded to support young mothers and survivors of abuse, providing a safe space for healing and rebuilding. “If a girl sees her mother leave an abusive situation and rebuild her life,” Rose says, “she’ll know she doesn’t have to settle.” Many of the girls who joined Tina’s programs have since graduated from high school and gone on to university, proving that early mentorship can transform lives.
While managing Tina remotely from Japan, Rose also excelled academically. Her professors recognized how her nonprofit experience enriched class discussions, and she was later invited to represent Okayama University at One Young World in Manchester, the university’s first African delegate. After graduating, Rose returned to South Africa to strengthen Tina and now balances her leadership of the organization with a teaching role at Barwaaqo University in Somaliland, the region’s first all-women’s university.
At Barwaaqo, Rose teaches Sociology and English, often beginning with the basics since many students arrive with limited English and computer skills. She mentors students, supports health and wellness initiatives, and leads clubs that build confidence and leadership. Despite the challenges of teaching in a resource-limited environment while running a nonprofit back home, she remains deeply committed to both. “Whatever helps the students grow, I’m happy to do it,” she says. “I just want them to become the best version of themselves.”
Rose’s journey from a determined girl in Limpopo to a scholar, founder, and educator captures the heart of what the Upskilling Young Africans to Make Positive Change project stands for. With your continued involvement, AAI Scholars like Rose can keep building positive change across Africa.
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By Yassmine Eladib | International Media Manager
By Yassmine Eladib | International Media Manager
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