Stories from Sub-Saharan Africa

Port Harcourt is known as the Garden City of Nigeria. But when Varnessa Varlyngton looked around her community and saw flooding, deforestation, and pollution choking the life out of it, that title felt like anything but the truth. Changemaker's Journey Varnessa was in grade 3 when a classroom lesson...

Changemaker's Journey Unique grew up in the northern part of Nigeria, where the gaps in health knowledge were not abstract statistics. She watched women around her suffer from health issues that men were largely spared from, inequalities that went largely unquestioned. In many communities, women...

Changemaker's Journey Seyi grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, with ambition and ability in equal measure. Nevertheless, in high school, he nearly missed out on opportunities he was more than qualified for, not because he lacked the skills, but simply because he did not know they existed. His friends were...

Changemaker's Journey Growing up in Abuja, Nigeria, Precious attended a government secondary school where the gaps her male classmates were facing were hard to miss. Many of them were juggling school with work, waking up early or staying out late just to afford their own education. Poverty and...

Changemaker's Journey Oluwapelumi grew up with a genuine love for mathematics. However, loving a subject and feeling at home in it are two different things. Even in an all-girls school, she found herself largely alone in her passion for STEM, surrounded by peers who did not share her interest and a...

Changemaker's Journey Feolami grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, carrying the same uncertainty that quietly follows so many young Africans through school. Certificates get earned, graduation days come and go, and then young people find themselves standing at the edge of the real world with no map for how to...

Changemaker's Journey Favour grew up in an underserved community in Ogun State, Nigeria, where books were not easy to come by. And the absence of them, she would later realise, had consequences that went far deeper than just academics. She found herself shying away from competitions, avoiding public...

Changemaker's Journey Born and raised in Lagos to a Northern Nigerian family, Emmanuella Sule grew up watching young people with real potential get quietly swallowed by invisible struggles. Many lived within a tight triangle: school, home and place of worship, with little room in between to ask the...

Changemaker's Journey Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, Comfort Alabi saw trash everywhere. On the roads, in the gutters, near the schools where children were supposed to learn and play. When the rainy season arrived, flooding swept through communities and made everything worse. Families lost homes...

Changemaker’s Journey Saviour Iwueze grew up surrounded by the beauty of nature in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, Nigeria. Her love for nature heightened her sensitivity to climate change and its effects, which enabled her to connect several childhood experiences to its impact. For instance, she frequently...

This is the story of how Memory and her peers in Zambia are advocating for people with albinism and activating others to create a safer and more inclusive society.

Changemaker’s Journey Digital illiteracy, according to Peter, has hindered him from adapting to the learning and problem-solving models essential for becoming a 21st-century changemaking leader. Growing up, he attended a public school in an underserved community, and throughout his six years of...

Addressing climate change and environmental degradation in Kenya through student-led education and advocacy.

Changemaker’s Journey Naomi’s journey into STEM began during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 when she discovered coding and web development. This led her into the tech community, where she attended hackathons—intensive events where participants have 24 to 70 hours to build tech-based projects. It was...

As a university student in South Africa working on youth development, Thabiso actively sees the potential for excellence in all students. When she is not in class, she is rallying her peers to equip younger students to be engaged learners, active civic leaders, and ambitious changemakers.

Changemaker’s Journey At sixteen, Favour was a victim of sexual abuse—a harrowing experience that gave her a reality check and made her realise that there could be many others like her in need of support. This realisation prompted her to start an initiative to raise awareness, provide support, and...

Marcus, a 13-year-old changemaker from Kenya, launched an online e-learning platform to inspire kids like him to spend more time developing their unique skills and talents.

Changemaker’s Journey Coming from an underserved community herself, where she lacked access to digital skills in secondary school, Eunice took it upon herself to create learning opportunities for young people in similar situations, empowering them to become digitally literate. She became acutely...

From a young age, Daniel has been committed to feeding his community. Today, he is reconceiving the food production system across Côte d'Ivoire.

Changemaker’s Journey As a child, Dawn Cobhams lacked access to after-school educational support due to financial constraints. She had to rely on the internet for the few virtual learning resources available to fully grasp certain school topics, which affected her academic performance. This...