Luanda Musafiri

One thing I would say that helped me out is believing in myself, because there's nothing I would have done, even when I was mentored or supported, if I didn't have that belief in myself that I can do this, I can become from nothing to something. When I was young, I was talking to my dad, and I was like, I'll be maybe a doctor, because my dad was a doctor. But because of things that happened in my life that made me become somebody, that made me become nothing from someone, all of these challenges could have made me lose hope and lose the actual vision that I had seen myself. So I became a totally another person, but because I believed in myself, I believed in the power of change and the power of hope, that's what I can say helped me. But also, with the long run, I got mentored, I had people support me, my family supported me as well. When I started my organization, it was really crazy. And I got people that invested in me because they saw the vision I had, and all of that came along, but I can say the belief in myself was the number one point.

I would say to the young girl that, first of all, believe in yourself. Believe in the power of doing something, even when it is beyond your imagination. I know a lot of people think that, we can say maybe, I have a dream to buy a car, right? And I don't have the money. But as long as you believe that you have the capacities to buy this car, that's enough for you to buy the car. Believe in yourself, even when you feel like the situation you are in right now cannot even permit you to be the person that you were thinking to be. So that's the number one thing I would say to this young lady, and secondly, of course, learn. Be knowledgeable, learn, study. Equip yourself with knowledge, because in the world that we are in, knowledge is the key. Nobody that has money has no knowledge - they know what they are doing, and that what they are doing is what is making them to become. So, believe in yourself. Know that you can do something even when it's beyond your imagination, and learn, study, and equip yourself. And of course, the number one point, believe in God. I'm a Christian, so I would say that also have God in between everything that you do, because it has really helped me to become the person that I am right now. If I have empathy, it's because I look at the person of Christ, and I say, yeah, this is how I'm supposed to go. I know what it means to not believe in yourself. I've been there, and I understand how many opportunities young women miss because they believe that they cannot do it. Now I can speak to an audience of thousands and speak to these beautiful people, billionaires, because I believed in myself. Not because I have money, not because I'm powerful, but the point of believing that what comes out of my mind can change somebody's life, I can do that.

Number one, on the challenges, what I can say when it comes to the nonprofit or business, especially when it comes to nonprofits - a lot of people when they hear immigrants, when they hear refugees, when they hear people who have fled their own homeland, somehow they don't understand what it means to leave everything, to lose everything, for a person to become nothing when you are somebody. And the challenge that comes with it, people overlook this side of the story, and they overlook these people. Why? Because they do not understand the actual scenarios of becoming someone, obeying somebody to become nothing. So I've realized in my career path that a lot of people have misconceptions of this kind of side of these people, because it's really like a movie to understand what somebody has passed through, and just become who they are. I feel like the challenge is to influence, to advocate for people's rights, and in a situation or in a world where they define you by your displacement. I would ask this - what does it mean to be uprooted from your homeland, to become a stranger in a foreign land, and to fight for belonging in a world that defines you by a displacement? That is the number one core problem of how people overlook this. And it's very hard for me as an advocate or person, the challenge is to make people understand, is to bring people to an understanding that it's not the people, it's the policies, it's the situation, it's the government, it's all these things that is influencing how their life has been changed. Just to be short, the challenge is, how do we convince the world to take responsibilities of what is happening to these young children, to these young women, and the challenges that are happening, and how can we, as human beings or as people, bring solutions.

What I can say about the values that I have and absolutely leads me into who I am - I do love, well, I'm an enthusiast person, so I'm a very creative person. So, of course, I can say integrity, teamwork - I love working with my team - honesty, and being responsible, taking responsibility of my actions. And there's so many really things that I can say. I do value a lot. I value everything that comes to a human being, because as a humanitarian person, it's about humanity, so I value the humanity of a person and all that comes with it. Being honest, being true, being accountable, especially as my work really needs me to be accountable to my partners, to the community I serve, and all, to my team.