Global Changemakers

From the moment the plane landed and I stepped out onto the runway to find someone waiting to whisk me through the diplomatic counter at the airport, I knew this was not going to be an ordinary visit, after all my host was the President of the Republic.

It all started almost three months ago when we, Alex, Mahmud, Kemi, Eddie and I, met President Armando Guebuza at the World Economic Forum on Africa. He was the guest of honour at the Global Changemakers Ideas Lab and he listened intently as we each presented our ideas to change our communities and our world. At the end of our session he stepped up to us and expressed his great admiration for our enthusiasm and the entire Changemakers program. He also extended an invitation to Mozambique to share that energy to his people and also to learn from his country. I thought little more of it when I got home but one day an email arrived inviting me to the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”. How could I refuse?

The main focus of our visit was to have direct contact with our youth peers and also to learn about how Mozambique empowers its youth. The first day of our visit saw us having dinner with the Minister of Youth and Sports, a rather youthful man who interrogated us about our experiences and seemed to take great interest in what we had to say. The next morning saw us in the conference room at Maputo’s City Hall with the Mayor of Maputo who explained to us that the city council only hired those aged between the age of 18 and 35; talk about youth empowerment!

Later that day we visited ‘Mozarte’, a vocational training centre for artistic youth which also ran an international exchange program; and Project Holiday, a program that got volunteer university graduates to apply their learning into uplifting Mozambique’s rural areas. This was just a glimpse into the Mozambican government’s commitment to youth development, over the next few days we visited CUG, a government funded micro finance project that helps youth get their ideas off the ground; the National Youth Council (NYC), an umbrella body that acted as an interface between government and youth organisations in the country and the Mozambican Parliament itself, that August body that makes laws to protect and empower youth. A working lunch with two young Parliamentarians who headed the Youth Cabinet convinced us that this government was walking the talk when it came to youth empowerment.

By far the highlight of our trip was when we left the comforts of the capital city and travelled into the rural village of Sabie. That night we were welcomed by a 28 year-old Parliamentarian and the District Administrator of the region. We met young local entrepreneurs who hit us from left, right and centre with questions. It was a productive meeting for both sides and we left having made many new friends who convinced us that Mozambique’s future was in very enterprising hands. Dawn the next morning found us touring a farm owned by a young farmer who had received financial assistance from the Youth Initiatives Fund and managed to lease land (because in Mozambique all land belongs to the State). We also visited a young girl’s cement manufacturing project which she began when she was 17 and had turned into a profitable enterprise for her and her family (we met her proud father!).

Our last few days saw us having even more contact with enterprising youth just when we thought that Mozambique could not impress us more than it already had. We visited a project that teaches young men and women artisanal skills that range from Electronics to Plumbing, the proud director of which told us he had managed to grow it from a small office to a union that protected and gave income to a large number of families in Maputo. Another project we saw gives office skills to disabled youth who are often a marginalised sector not only in Mozambique but all over the world. It teaches them, connects them and gets them jobs. A braille copy of the Mozambican constitution on their stand showed us the depth of their commitment that no person was to be left behind in the new Mozambique.

Tuesday the 10^{th of August saw us reporting back to his Excellency the President on everything we had noted and seen on our visit. He welcomed us warmly into the State House and listened intently as we told him what the past few days had meant for us. He paid close attention and notes were taken on what we thought they could improve on and where we had learnt some new things. And despite the lush trappings of the State House, the sumptuous walls and plush life that surrounded him, we could all tell that this was a man in touch with his people and doing his best to make a change for the better.}

Sitting on the plane on my way home the next day, I could hardly help smile as I read the words to a speech that the President had given on Mozambique’s thirty year Independence celebrations, ”…[we are certain] that the combat we wage against poverty will be continued by our young people, guardians of our glorious political, historical and cultural heritage”.
Our visit showed me that he had meant every single word.

BONGANI- ZIMBABWE