Temvelo Matsebula is Africa's Tomorrow's first woman scholar and first graduate. She serves youth who are wards of the state, an incredibly vulnerable population of children. Temvelo shared with us a bit about what it's like to be an essential worker and international graduate during the Coronavirus pandemic.

​What is working in the US like for an international student, and for an international graduate?
So, I feel like working in the US for me, entering the work industry, I had to prove myself to my coworkers - I had to prove that I am capable. More than Americans would have to. It's easy for people to think, "oh, she's international, she got hired because she's international, she will struggle to understand the basics of the job, we'll have to explain the basics." People tried to baby me.  I had to prove that, yes, I need help, but I have the basic skills that this job requires.  It's a challenge to show people that I am capable and earn their trust. It's easy to trust an American with a task like interviewing a kid who is getting admitted, but people doubt I am able to do it because I might not have experienced what they are going through, but I do have personal experience and I have also studied it.

By Thando Naluyima

This semester I took a queer studies class to better understand and be mindful of queer spaces and people. Queerness is not often talked about by African cultures as it’s sometimes defined as un-African or influence from the Western by a lot of African religious critiques. This class has helped me to be mindful, especially when it comes to people’s pronouns,names and just how to respect people that have been really mistreated by the system.

Did you know South Africa was the first country in the whole world to include no discrimination of people regardless of their gender or sexual orientation in their constitution? This was really nerve wracking for me as you usually hear that the continent of Africa tend to be stereotyped as homophobic and this is the single story that has been widely spread which is not necessary true. There are countries like Botswana, Angola, Rwanda, Mozambique, Seychelles, Lesotho where same sex marriage is decriminalized.