Taking a gap semester was the best decision I made this year!
The COVID-19 pandemic took a lot away from us. As someone who graduated in June 2020 and started my freshman year at Yale University that fall, the pandemic took away the precious time I had to explore my future. The first two years of college felt unreal, and it was not until the fall of my junior year (fall 2022), that life felt somewhat normal. By that time, I couldn’t believe that I was halfway done with college. I wanted to reclaim the lost time to recover from burnout, rediscover my passions, and reassess my post-grad aspirations.
My friend, Thembi Gausi, recommended that I apply for Yale University’s Thomas C. Barry Fellowship for my gap semester. Fortunately I was accepted, and I received funding to travel to my family’s home country to implement an independent project. Over the course of 5 months, I worked with three organizations: Open Dreams, Hope and Rehabilitation Organisation (HaRO), and Motherland Empire. I will discuss the latter two organizations in subsequent posts.
Open Dreams (OD) is a non-governmental organization that “works with high-achieving low-income students in Cameroon to help them achieve their dreams.” During my time in the capital, Yaoundé, I hosted seminar workshops with OD Scholars to share my experience as a Yale student and enrich them with professional development skills. I assisted OD scholars in redesigning their LinkedIn pages so that they could better engage with various industry professionals and companies online. Not only did they get new headshots, but also received support in re-writing their experiences.
The best part about my time with Open Dream was leading a book club on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book, “We Should All Be Feminists.” Within the four walls of their classroom, I once again found my love teaching. Together the scholars and I examined feminism within the Cameroonian and overarching African context. I challenged the scholars to think beyond the materials I provided and articulate thoughts based on their own experiences. Through debates, skits, and group discussions, we confronted stereotypical narratives and learned to
Open Dreams, thank you so much for accepting to work with me this year. You all welcomed me as your own and supported me greatly over the five months. I am grateful to Mr. Blaise Buma, Mr. James Akaba, and Ms. Cristin for watching over me during this time. To each of my scholars, I am so proud of you! You are the change-makers Cameroon needs! Go out into the world, but don’t forget to invest back home.
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