From Cape Flats to Harvard - support Soraya

My name is Soraya Mohideen, and I will be heading to Harvard University after having completed my schooling on the Cape Flats 25 years ago. As a first generation graduate, being accepted to the Mid-Career Master’s in Public Administration (MC/MPA) programme at Harvard is an immense achievement. I have chosen to attend the full-time, 11 month programme to better fulfill my responsibilities to the City of Cape Town and South African society.

 

I call on your support to get my young family and I to Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that I can complete my degree at the university's John F. Kennedy School of Government. I am the sole MC/MPA recipient of the competitive Harvard South Africa Fellowship which covers my direct tuition costs and travel along with a nominal stipend for administrative costs. I need your help to raise the indirect costs which will go towards housing ($6,092), health insurance ($14,940), books and supplies ($1,820), preschool tuition ($27,000), and my dependent costs for the year ($21,000).

If I am able to successfully get 2000 people to sponsor $35 each (roughly R500), I will be able to cover my financial shortfall. However, any contribution you are able to make within your means is highly appreciated.

Why is this important?

 

My unique perspective as a seasoned development professional who is a mother and Muslim woman of color adds richness to the discourse on economic development, human capital, technology, and poverty alleviation. My 21-year career and lived experienced has instilled in me a purpose to serve the common good and a determination to shift people out of an inequality and poverty trap to better opportunity.

 

This inequality trap is one I know well. The day I finished my final high school exam, I took the bus to a warehouse and collected a black duffle bag filled with rainbow-colored plastic toys to sell door-to-door. Three years later, a call centre job propelled me into the digital workplace at a time when the screech of dial-up modems were heard only in wealthy suburbs. I experienced firsthand the monumental personal and socioeconomic growth aided by technology and the internet. My journey from low wage work to being a leader at a tech skills accelerator and now a specialist in local government inspires me to tackle youth unemployment through opportunities enabled by an increasingly digitised society. My career goal is to be an expert in workforce development for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to improve lives and drive inclusive growth in Africa.

 

After graduation, I plan to return to the the public sector to build policy experience while stimulating innovation, entrepreneurship, and job creation in catalytic sectors which build the regional economy. Adding the degree to my life history and professional experience in youth employment acceleration, both as a practitioner and as a civil servant, makes me the best person to take on this challenge. A public service career serves my purpose to help young people who remind me of me.