Zooming In

Leaving Norway during the pandemic left me filled with uncertainties. First, I had to go to France to get my US VISA since the border closures prevented me from going home to Senegal. With God’s grace, it was granted to me, and now, about 5 month later, I can assert that Macalester College in Saint Paul Minnesota is my new home for the next four years of undergraduate life.

2020 being similar to no other year, my college experience described in one word would be Zoom. From classes to events, meeting people, and building connections, life has never been more virtual. Nevertheless, I am grateful for how my first semester at College has turned out.

I applied and got into a civic engagement group on campus called Lives of Commitment. Joining them gave me the opportunity to volunteer at a kid’s homework center, Skyline. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I help one or two kids with their homework from 2 to 3 p.m. I learnt a lot about patience, kindness, and compassion working with kids on problems that are easy for me but a real struggle for them.

Alongside my work at skyline, I also applied and got into the Student Academic Affairs Committee of the college. Here I meet with other students and staff members to discuss and find solutions to issues and concerns that impact student life at Macalester.

In addition, I have been journaling for the College Archives for a semester, as part of a project that seeks to represent more voices from minorities or groups that are often discriminated against. I wrote from a standpoint of a Black Muslim woman, Senegalese, and first generation student. I also wrote a couple of articles published in the College weekly newspaper.

This semester, I will join the Admission office as an International Student Ambassador for Macalester. I hope to interact with prospect students and help them get to know the college better.

My time at RCN has certainly helped me a lot to get all these beautiful opportunities. I still have a lot to learn and discover here at Mac and could not be more excited. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just want to talk.

Anna Sene (RCN 2020)

Simon Mayson and Chann de Villiers on the main stairwell in Troyeville House.(Photo: Chris Collingridge)

Being awarded the scholarship to attend Red Cross United World College in 2005 blew on the changemaker fire sparking within me, and it continues to burn today. At UWC I was immersed in a microcosm of the world and granted considerable freedom to initiate and lead projects at only 17 years old. Furthermore, the experiential learning opportunities I had at college enabled me to put the fire to good use.

Though many UWCers continue studying abroad after the International Baccalaureate, I decided to return to my homeland, South Africa, and ‘relearn’ it following this UWC experience. And, while many first year students around me were floundering in their newfound freedoms, UWC enabled me to initiate projects that harnessed the changemaker potential of hundreds of University of Cape Town volunteers.

Fast forward through several years of ‘adulting’ and I’m working with other changemakers to enable a wellbeing economy in an area we’re calling ‘Makers Valley’, in a downtrodden part of inner city Johannesburg. In partnership with the US Consulate, British Council, Engineers Without Borders, Nando’s and local NGOs and developers, we mainly support creative and social entrepreneurs (changemakers) with seed funding, space and community. The aim is to enable the neighbourhood, like UWC a microcosm of the world (or at least Africa), as the city’s ‘”heart of social and creative enterprise”. But in our aims to grow collective wellbeing in the world’s most unequal country, in the last two years Makers Valley partners have worked on a wide range of projects from the establishment of a fledgling community currency and swap shops, food parcels during the COVID-19 lockdown, edible gardens, youth employment and entrepreneurship expos, safety and security initiatives, and more.

The latest project is the Troyeville House, a set of buildings dating to the gold rush that founded Joburg, and in surprisingly good nick. The property consists of an 11-bed mansion and gardens, chapel, hall, sanctuary, coach house converted into flats, and vacant land we’re planning to showcase tiny houses on. We are seeing a diverse group of changemakers joining the community as long- and short-term residents, as well as undertaking work for the greater good in the neighbourhood and beyond.

I’m currently doing a lot of introspection as part of the action research PhD thesis I’m writing, and I frequently think of my time at Red Cross Nordic in relation to my current work. As we set up and grow the Troyeville House as a Changemakers Residence, I sometimes wonder if I’m secretly trying to live my UWC experience in perpetuity!

We would love to welcome visitors and residents from the extended UWC family! Please get in touch with Chann and Simon through the website www.troyeville.house  🙂