My Lifelong Fellowship: Sharing, Support and Solidarity

The life of an activist and change-maker is often a lonely one. There are never enough resources and time. There are always so many issues to confront. There are so many people who need help. It is rewarding work, but it is also taxing emotionally, mentally and physically. For decades now, this has been my life.

New perspectives, new alliances: becoming a Fellow

I have always been looking for a space where I could find solidarity, care and support. A space where I could be vulnerable with kindred spirits and people who are willing to understand my aims and my challenges. A space where I would find comfort and reassurance that our hard work to help build a better world will all be worth it in the end. In 2018, I found this space when I joined the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme as a non-residential Fellow. I can truly say that the people with whom I shared my challenging and fulfilling active fellowship year are people who really understand the challenges that will always be characteristic of the life of an activist.

I admit that as my fellowship year began, I did not quite comprehend the value of the space I found myself in. I did not yet know that it would push me to gain new perspectives and new knowledge, and ask better questions and build alliances. I could not guess that I was not the only Fellow who arrived at the programme with a feeling of imposter syndrome. I was still to discover how transformative the fellowship would be, thanks to those I shared it with. We may be spread all over the world, working in widely different areas of social justice and change-making, but my fellow Fellows have brought me a space full of solidarity, care and support that I know I will be able to plug into for a lifetime.

A step further: joining the lifelong fellowship

As my active fellowship year ended in 2019, it opened the door to another journey as I became a lifelong Fellow within the wider community made up of Fellows from across the seven Atlantic Fellowship programmes: a global community of change-makers working to address the systemic causes of inequity. I found myself wondering whether it would be possible to make the same kinds of connections with this much larger group of 500+ people working in a very broad range of professions, causes and disciplines, as I had with a group of just 18 other Fellows. As I read through dozens and hundreds of fellow Atlantic Fellows’ profiles online, I was impressed – but also back in an all-too-familiar place, where imposter syndrome is always lurking. Everyone seemed more accomplished and experienced than me. How could I fit in?

Admittedly, being a lifelong Fellow has come with challenges similar to those I negotiated in my active fellowship year, including the challenges of negotiating cultural, racial, economic and class differences and geographical dispersion. I successfully dealt with these challenges in the context of a small group, but the sheer size of the wider Atlantic Fellows community made this new challenge one of a different order. Could I negotiate this challenge too?

Solidarity, care and support – and knowledge-sharing

The wonderful truth is that in spite of these genuine challenges, the lifelong fellowship community itself seems determined to make me realise that this space, too, is home! Although we are connecting largely at a distance, for obvious reasons at the moment, and although we are all always in the thick of our own change-making work and our own busy lives, the lifelong fellowship is the kind of place of solidarity, care and support that activists such as myself have always wished for.

The best part is that the lifelong fellowship programme is designed to be highly interactive, with the Atlantic Institute at its centre, working to facilitate exchanges among Fellows from diverse backgrounds. I have learned more about racism and American politics through interacting with Betsy Hodges (a former mayor of Minneapolis and an Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity) than I ever have before, and I believe she has learned something about African realities from me in return. Thanks to in-depth conversations with senior Fellows such as Nomathamsanqa Mngxekeza from the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity programme at Tekano in South Africa, I have gained new perspectives on the persistent and interconnected nature of inequalities. In time of a worldwide pandemic and its economic, social and political impacts, the need for collaborative solidarity and activism that transcends borders is clearer than ever.

The lifelong fellowship aims for “sustainable impact”. What this means in practice is access to continuous learning and knowledge-sharing, and an extension of the intense talking, thinking and reflecting of our active fellowship year. Well-thought-out programmes make opportunities available to us to enhance our leadership and professional skills.

This space is not only a resource-rich community offering opportunities to connect via webinars and seminars, skills training and more, but it is also one where the carer can get care, including support for mental wellness. Since I completed my active fellowship year and began my journey as a lifelong Fellow, there has been several moments I have felt cared for and supported. Perhaps the most significant exhibition of care has been the fellowship community’s support, including a Solidarity Grant given by the Atlantic Institute, for the Collective Community Homeschool project that I started in my community in Kwekwe, a mining town in central Zimbabwe, during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Achieving impact, with help from around the world

I am proud to say that the home-schooling project has had tremendous positive impact and impact in my community, thanks to the hard work and hope of countless volunteers, teachers, parents and pupils. Over 110 children who would have otherwise been left behind during the shutdown of Zimbabwe’s schools in the pandemic have been able to get an education. And with the founding of the Community Hope Trust, I hope the positive impact of this work will continue to grow.

But a mammoth responsibility has fallen on my shoulders to sustain, run and grow this project. One thing is for sure: neither it, nor I, would not have survived without a strong support system. The Atlantic Fellowship family has been a tower of support and a refuge of care and love. From virtual cocktail dates with Dana Walrath, an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health based in Vermont in the US, to regular conversations with fellow Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity Allison Corkery, I have felt the solidarity that transcends borders. I have felt inspired to carry on.

My imposter syndrome is gradually fading away as I realise, with each passing day, that the lifelong fellowship is indeed a place where people like me can pause to reflect and catch our breath, enhance our knowledge on a myriad of issues, upgrade our leadership skills and simply be energised by being among kindred souls. The journey through my active fellowship year brought challenges, and I know that lifelong fellowship will not be smooth sailing either. Being part of this community of people working for change will demand that I be mindful of my inner self, and be responsible for the energy and value I bring into the space. But as I told my friend Rudo when she asked me about my new adventure, I bet it will be worth every moment.

The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme, the International Inequalities Institute, or the London School of Economics and Political Science.