Women Leaders Transforming Southern Africa

Dear Supporter,

Thank you so much for your generous support for the Graça Machel Scholarships programme, which provides educational and professional opportunities to women of rural origin to enable them to become leaders in their fields. Each of women supported has shown significant inspiration and initiative at local level, and by accessing higher education can have an even greater impact, whether in the area of health, education, human rights, agriculture or economics.

Alda Ester Chongo is just one of the women who has been supported through the programme. Because she works in an incredibly specialised area of medicine she was supported to study in the UK at the prestigious London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Alda Ester is now a Medical Researcher, and here she talks about the difference the opportunity for further study has made to her life:

“The one thing that this scholarship has really emphasised is what I have always believed: that after working hard enough for something that we really believe in, there will always be positive signals, and the universe will always be in favour, and dreams can become reality for everybody.

I was born in Mozambique and I studied Biology as an undergraduate in Maputo. I have just finished my MSc in Immunology of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Not very long ago I was just one of many people in Mozambique with a big dream - to have the chance to continue my studies abroad. The scholarship has changed my life, has made my dream a reality; it was simply one of the best things to have ever happened in my life.

The MSc gave me understanding of how our immune system deals with a broad range of pathogens, so that I will be able to improve vaccines and develop new vaccines against diseases we face in this century. I am now capable of contributing to research involving tuberculosis, HIV and parasitic infections such as malaria. Only with tools will we be able to deal with the problems that we face.

My contribution will also be focused on teaching immunology to undergraduates. The MSc, for someone who is involved in science, is just the beginning of the scientific world and has inspired me to go even further and join with other young Mozambican pioneers. With other young Mozambican scientists, I plan to establish a new research laboratory. I am certain this dream will come true and this will have significant impact, as more students will be interested in joining the scientific environment. It would help in furthering the understanding of infectious diseases within Mozambique and would be a huge step forward in developing our capacity to tackle challenges.”

Thank you once again for your support, which is enabling inspirational individuals like Alda Ester to gain the expertise needed to drive positive change in southern Africa.