Collette

I am an ambitious girl who does not believe in failure. I am that girl who strongly believes that women should be given equal rights as men, I am that girl that believes that women and girls can change the world and make it a better place for all. 

Collette, her parents and six siblings live in Dzaleka (Malawi), having fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She applied for the JWL Creative Writing and Design programme because she loves to write but also as part of her desire to challenge an existing notion within the community: “I was inspired to apply for the creative writing and designing with the misconception in my community that design and technology is not for girls, therefore I wanted to become a role model and an inspiration to other girls in my community.”

She’s been enjoying engaging in discussions with peers near and far, as well as the assignments which flex her creativity muscles. “Another interesting thing about the course,” she notes, “is that it gives me flashbacks of my childhood, the games that I used to play with my friends, my school days and how it felt to be new at school.”

Courses such as this one “are useful because they increase one’s intellectual capacity. It’s something that can aid a person to start up a business of their own and they give a person a career.” Collette dreams of pursuing her education, becoming independent, and contributing to making the community a better place, with a special focus on girls. Collette is currently Operations Intern at JWL, and a volunteer at Plan International Malawi as a child and youth advocator. Creative writing and design can further contribute to the realisation of her vision as she would be able to reach more persons:

I would like to be working with organisations that promote girls and women empowerment by designing posters and writing on placards to use for awareness campaigns, and encourage fellow girls to learn such courses since I will be a good example to show that girls are also capable of learning such courses.