Salima Etoka is a remarkable young woman who’s been working as a development assistant for Malaika for several years now. We’re so proud of her most recent accomplishment- graduating with her master’s degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School with a concentration on International and Global Affairs (IGA)! Congratulations Salima!
As we celebrate with Salima, we also want to share an excellent op-ed article she recently wrote with a friend, Djénéba Gory. The women describe the piece as “calling on the end of the exploitation of the Congolese people, especially for Harvard students who will soon be making decisions all over the world.”
“Djénéba Gory and I reflect on the juxtaposition of our relative privilege with the systematic marginalization of the artisanal miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Salima says. “As Harvard Kennedy School graduates who understand the roles of institutions within solving the world’s biggest pressing issues, we also acknowledge the individual responsibility and our complicity in the suffering of the Congolese people. Our call to the next generation of leaders is to recognize the contribution of their labour to our education and commit to improving their lives.”
We’re so glad to have Salima working with us, and we know she will continue to make important change in the world.