O Ambassador, Zainab Khan and the New Jersey SEEDS scholar of action

Even if one guessed for hours one would not make the connection between a Pakistan-American teenager in Jersey City and a rural community in Rwanda’s Eastern Province. That is because to find real connections, one must look beneath the surface. That is exactly what St. Dominic Academy freshman, Zainab Khan, did when she learned of the pressing need for books written in English in the small East African country. In late 2008, Rwanda officially transitioned from Francophone to Anglophone status, which set into motion a series of changes from Parliamentary level to the individual class room. Classes are now taught in English and Kiswahili is offered in the school curriculum as Rwandan national policy shifts to build stronger ties to the broader East African community. Zainab learned of this towards the New Year and took action. In a matter of weeks, the fourteen year old student-activist presented a plan to her classmates and garnered support from school administration to set in motion a school-wide drive that would also include the efforts at the grammar school of her younger siblings. It only takes one person with compassion and conviction to create a change. The beauty is that in this case, you have a student showing teachers at home and abroad that the power of change still lies within the voice of the young. When asked what motivated her, she expressed that the initiative stems from her love for reading and her growing interest in the issues within the African continent. It causes one to wonder what will happen as more intelligent and focused American youth are exposed to the broader world in which they live Zainab and the O Ambassadors at St. Dominic Academy collected a total of 6,000 books, which will be divided for two efforts in different countries in Africa. The first set of books will go to the people in Bugesera District, the developing, yet predominately rural community that is thirty kilometers south of Rwandan capital city, Kigali. There is an initiative to start a library there, and this will go a long way in that effort. The second set will be donated to Wings of the Dawn, an NGO that donates books to African schools and libraries around the Continent. Lawyer, educator and youth mentor, Ofonedu Goodwyn, received the books and will store them until shipment this summer. After his visit to St. Dominic Academy, Ofonedu spoke of Zainab with clear excitement, noting that “she is deep, humble and aware of the imbalance and her privileged place within....she is amazing”. Ofonedu has served as a mentor with Leadership Education and Development (LEAD), Minds Matter, and with New Jersey SEEDS. As someone continually surrounded by high-performing youth, this is a quite a statement. One colleague aptly said of the commitment that Zainab has shown to the book drive that this “speaks to the best sense of common humanity”. Well, for the sake of common humanity, let us hope that small acts of love such as Zainab’s continue to spread and that the power of the youth speak more loudly with each passing day. To Zainab Khan, to the St. Dominic Academy O Ambassadors, and to Ofonedu Goodwyn - the community of Bugesera District says “murakoze cyane” (thank you very much). You have really put your creeds into your deeds. Zainab is a New Jersey SEEDS Scholar who has truly taken to hear the mission of the organization. New Jersey SEEDS is a competitive scholarship program that places high-achieving students with financial need into some of the strongest academic institutions in the region and nation, more broadly. Every year, students from around the state of New Jersey compete to join the class of one hundred scholars who continue to represent their peers as academic and community leaders. The organization places a heavy emphasis on community service as a tenet of a quality leader. Zainab is a graduate of the New Jersey SEEDS Scholars Program in 2008. Ofonedu Goodwyn was a Dean of Students at The Boarding Experience, the third-leg of the New Jersey SEEDS Scholars Program. This is another example that the organization and the people on the ground, its staff, are making strides within the community. If you would like to know more about three current efforts being made in Rwanda to establish libraries, please contact Amir Demeke for more details. Contact: amirdemeke@gmail.com