(From Huffington Post) -- Nokwanda Ramatheko's parents never understood her passion for learning or her desire to make a difference in the world. Born in Soweto, one of the most notorious townships in South Africa, her community was rife with crime, teen pregnancies, high school dropouts, high unemployment rates and high HIV/AIDS infection rates. After her parents separated, her father struggled to pay school fees so that she could attend a neighboring township school, go to university, and make a better life for herself.
But Nokwanda had bigger ideas. At an early age, she felt that people had to stop waiting for the government to help and find their own solutions. "We have to change society's view," she said. When she wanted to attend a conference or enter a competition, she notes, "I would make a plan, find the money, get a taxi, and come back home with trophies in my hand."
Nokwanda does not just want a better life for herself and her family, she wants to change the world. She encourages others to follow her path as an advisor for the Universal Youth Group, a group of 300 underprivileged youth from her township. She gives them school applications and takes them with her on auditions and to competitions. When she was 18 year old and postponed attending university to join the African Leadership Academy (ALA), her father nearly disowned her.
Preparing Africa's next generation of leaders
ALA is a highly competitive two-year, pre-university boarding school in Johannesburg, South Africa, that identifies promising young African men and women to build a strong, connected generation of leaders who will transform Africa. Cisco has funded 16 scholars over the past four years through the Cisco Scholars Program, a $680,000 scholarship fund.
The intensive two-year program focuses on practical leadership experience, training in entrepreneurship, and African Studies for a deep understanding of the overarching issues facing Africa on both the global and local level. The rigorous curriculum prepares students for success on the Cambridge International Examinations and ALA guides them to scholarships at some of the best universities in the world. Following university, students commit to work in Africa for ten years, acting on their ideas and experiences.
In 2011, Nokwanda was accepted to both the University of Pretoria and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa to study Urban Planning, but she put her plans on hold to attend ALA. She told her father: "I don't want to do what everyone else is doing. Daddy, this is your daughter, Nokwanda, this is who I am and what I want to do."
ALA offers much more than a curriculum of study; it helps students build a human network to support them for the rest of their lives that will multiply the impact of each individual's study. "We seek to build a world-class leadership institution that will develop 6,000 transformative African leaders over the next 50 years," said Theodore Sutherland, external affairs fellow, African Leadership Academy. In 2012, the ALA network included almost 400 young leaders from 43 African countries, selected from nearly 10,000 applicants.
By pairing students from different African countries as roommates and teammates, ALA helps students break down barriers and become aware of their own prejudices. Nokwanda's roommate is Kenyan and changed her thinking about the country and its people. "Irrespective of the culture or the religion we come from, we are the same," she said.
Global connections
The ALA has drawn the attention and support of global philanthropic, government, and corporate partners, including Cisco. Former Cisco Scholars now attend prestigious institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, Trinity College, the University of Cape Town, and Drexel University. The first 12 Cisco Scholar graduates secured $1.5 million in scholarships from universities and fellowship programs, four dollars in scholarship funding for every one dollar invested by Cisco.
After her first year at ALA, Nokwanda was accepted into the BezosScholars Program @ Aspen Institute where top students from around the world join top scholars, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, and change-makers at the Aspen Ideas Festival to share big ideas about sustainability. When Nokwanda returns to South Africa, she will lead a local Ideas Festival based on her experience.
