Whatever Happened To … The Woman Whose Mission Is To Get African Girls In School?

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Angeline Murimirwa, executive director of the girls’ education group Camfed in Africa, at a pub in Oxford, England, in 2018. In August, Camfed was awarded the $2.5 million 2021 Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

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And they do this as volunteers?

They’ve got jobs, run businesses, some are in higher education. Some now run schools. But if you’ve walked this path, you know that even if you can give a packet of pens, that helps support the next generation.

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Prince Harry, right, speaks to Murimirwa during his visit to the Nalikule College of Education in Malawi in 2019. The Prince visited the school to learn how the group is supporting young women.

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Are there any new programs you are working on?

We are looking at supporting 50,000 young women in entrepreneurial, profitable businesses that are sensitive to issues of climate change.

Like what?

Climate-smart agriculture.

Can you explain?

You know we face food security issues — people are going hungry more and more. How do you produce more from the same piece of land? People tried to use more artificial fertilizer. That feeds you today but not in the future, it damages your soil and the environment.

So you’re advocating … ?

Organic farming to improve the yield without ruining the capacity to produce in the future.

Does food connect to your mission of educating girls?

When a person doesn’t have enough food, there are pressures to offload children. When someone says, «I want to marry your daughter, there’s less resistance from the parents because it means one less mouth to feed.

We’re looking at the child holistically — just saying that issues of food can prevent girls from participating in and succeeding in school.

You’ve told me about your own struggles to stay in school. Are things any different for today’s girls in the communities served by Camfed?

This generation of girls is lucky. They have seen what happens when you get a chance to go to school. [Many of the Camfed alumni] were the first in our generation to go this far. Young women are now teachers in their community. In the past, it could be all men teaching. [Today’s girls] see the possibilities. There’s hope.

We talked last time about how you fulfilled your mom’s dreams of the education she was never able to obtain. How’s your mom doing?

She’s fantastic. I am fighting with her throughout COVID. You know how it is, there are new etiquette rules for COVID. You cannot be greeting someone with a handshake or a hug. In Africa, in Zimbabwe, when somebody has lost a family member, we go to their house and we shake hands. The very act of saying condolences is to shake hands literally, to touch their hands, feel their hands.

Now we’re saying with COVID you can’t do that. My mum always asks, «Are you sure?

And she asks, «So it means I just can’t be coming and seeing my grandchildren?

No, you can’t.

And don’t go and gather without social distance and without a mask. Life is a cruel teacher at times. When people started dying, the message came through.

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Does your mom always listen to you?

I don’t think she always listens to me. She’ll say, «I just visited your aunty who’s sick. Seriously? But she told me, «I’ve gone and been vaccinated. That’s good.

Has this pandemic made you pessimistic?

If anything, COVID deepens the fault lines that expose the inequities across communities – but also reminds the world that we are very connected, more connected than we really thought. A lesson from COVID is that we should move forward together collectively and continue to put education at the center of what we do.

Take care and stay safe.