My name is Bwegombe Baliruno Vanessa Divina. I was introduced to MEMPROW a couple of years ago and since then been attending the workshops and various dialogues.
I joined the MEMPROW community a timid young girl who was so self-cautious and always worried if I was doing it all right but through the various interactions, I have managed to become more outgoing and out spoken. I voice out my opinions without fear and always determined to have a positive impact wherever I go.
I have also become a more out-going lady. Being a person who was usually to herself, I have managed to engage more with people because with meeting and interacting with different people it has helped me listen to different perspectives of people about different ways of life and I always get to learn a thing or two with the interactions I make.
MEMPROW has made me become more open minded about what is in the world and what the world has to offer. Being a safe space for all to freely be who they are regardless of their gender identity, my stereotypical mind transposed and I have been able to understand that gender does not change the humanity of a person and a person choosing to be different from what is rendered “normal” does not equate to them being “abnormal”.
I have grown a passion for human rights and human rights movements and I am on a journey to become a human rights activist when I am done with my education. My passion was awakened by the various dialogues MEMPROW organizes and getting a chance to listen to all these speakers and people giving their views and intake on things just drives to be able to get into such a community soon.
Being a student in the diaspora, some days can be really despondent and homesickness can have the best of you. I have managed to use the life lessons learned from MEMPROW to go on with my university life. With the recent occurrence of the pandemic, these life lessons have kept me at bay and I have been able to survive on those poignant days.
