Twin sisters and founders of Focal Point Global, Hassanatu Blake and Hussainatu Blake are on a mission to provide a global experience that enlightens youths in Africa and the United States about different cultures, countries, and lifestyles. Using modern technology such as Skype and Google Hangout, Focal Point Global makes it possible for youths to connect, learn, and address social issues together, and become leaders in their communities.
As 2012 White House Champions of Change, the dynamic duo has accomplished a great deal since launching the organization in 2010. This includes creating The U.S.-Southern Africa HIV Education Initiative (2010), the US-Cameroon Child Trafficking Awareness Project (2012), the Gambia-Namibia HIV/Ebola Education Initiative (2014), preparing 150 global youth alumni, and serving as 2013 TEDxEmory Keynote Speakers.
BlackEnterprise.com caught up with the Cameroonian-American sisters to delve into their background and learn more about their plans for 2016.
BlackEnterprise.com: Tell us a bit about your background.
Hussainatu: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, a Masters degree from Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and a law degree from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. I have lived and worked in Germany, South Africa, Namibia, and The Gambia. While living in Germany, I assisted the NAACP with educating Africans about their legal rights. I also worked for the International Organization for Migration’s Counter-Trafficking Department in South Africa, aiding trafficked Africans. I have published articles about slavery in Mauritania for International Affairs Forum, a publication of the Center for International Relations in Washington, D.C.
Hassanatu: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Plymouth State University. I’ve also lived, worked, and studied in Germany, Jamaica, Namibia, Zambia, Antigua, St. Lucia, Cameroon, The Gambia, and South Africa. I have focused on improving health issues globally. Recently I worked with BroadReach Healthcare to implement a national management and leadership training program for health professionals in Zambia. I also conducted maternal/child health research with the National Institutes of Health and University of Alabama in Jamaica, worked with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Namibia to support Namibia’s national fight against HIV/AIDS, and managed technical assistance projects in Africa and Asia with USAID Global Health Technical Project in Washington, D.C. I’ve also written on a variety of health topics for the African American online health resource, BlackDoctor.org.
Tell us about the defining moment that inspired you to launch Focal Point Global.
Seven years ago, Focal Point Global started as an idea while we were sitting in our parents’ living room. We had just returned from working overseas and we read a New York Times article about the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the D.C. metro area being as high as 3%. Although 3% may not seem high for many people, based on our global public health and international development backgrounds, we knew this prevalence rate was high for an industrialized country like the U.S., and also comparable to some prevalence rates in West African cities. What makes it more alarming is that many who are impacted are youths between the ages of 15 and 25. After reading the article, we did research on how HIV was being addressed in the U.S., particularly in the youth population. We realized there was a critical gap that wasn’t being fully utilized — global peer education. Right then, we decided to create a project connecting youths in the U.S. and in Namibia (Southern Africa) so they could have a cross-cultural educational platform to discuss HIV and a space to create solutions to address this disease in their communities.
Posts tagged as “African youth”
UNITED NATIONS – Lesedi Mogoatlhe has dedicated her life to empowering African youth by helping them to find their voices through radio journalism.
In a time of economic, cultural and political challenges, young South Africans face extraordinarily difficult issues. As teens, they worry about their friends, families, education and social standing, but must as South Africans also deal with the harsh realities of poverty, disease and violence.
A trainer with Children’s Radio Foundation(CRF) in South Africa, Mogoatlhe focuses on building interest in social issues, provoking critical thinking and nurturing communication.
“It’s tempting to list the number of challenges and inequalities faced by the people on the continent, to talk about how the natural resources are being misused, or how corruption has become synonymous with African leadership,” Mogoatlhe told IPS, “but this seems like a futile exercise if I can’t contribute solutions to these problems.”
Having a voice is essential to having a livelihood, and through organizations like the Children’s Radio Foundation and trainers like Mogoatlhe, more and more youth are becoming equipped with basic communication skills that do more than simply allowing them to say how they feel.
Joan Erakit spoke with Mogoatlhe about her work in radio journalism for youth in South Africa and its impact on young people’s lives. Excerpts of the interview follow.
Q: You train youth to empower not only themselves but also their communities through radio journalism. What sort of trends have you begun to see?
A: Youth that come from rural environments are hungrier for knowledge than youth in urban environments. They seem to be more focused and curious about opportunities that come to them, and they tend to be better at organising themselves and using everything that the platform of radio brings their way.
I’ve also realised that the first moment of empowerment that occurs for the youth happens when they have a microphone to speak through. Something about having their voices amplified seems to also amplify everything else about them.