Giving Voice to Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves, Meet Ingrid Kubisa: A Journey From Africa to Minnesota

April, STEM Month, is a celebration dedicated to promoting and raising awareness about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. GlobalMindED is proud to highlight the voices and work of influential STEM leaders. Meet Ingrid Kubisa .

What is your personal/professional story?

My personal story has been a story of service, faith, resilience, inclusion, social justice, people’s empowerment, and hope. My parents told me that when I was six months old, as my grandfather was dying, he prayed that I would live to give hope to others and be a voice of those who cannot speak for themselves. This was three months after the ongoing repetitive war started in my country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This prayer has been a curse and blessing.?

During and after high school, I was fortunate enough to find myself at tables where I had to use my voice on behalf of people who could not speak for themselves. A few years later, I started volunteering at Let Africa Live , a nonprofit that my dad founded in 2000 to help victims of war reintegrate into society after working as child soldiers, being raped, or born through rape. One part of my job was to work with young women who had been raped and facilitate their transition through trauma healing sessions, finding a job training of their choice. The other part was to work with a group of high schoolers and advocate for kids born through rape to be officially legalized as citizens of the country but above all to allow them to have access to adequate education by encouraging schools to enroll even without having a “father” figure present to fill out the father part of the admission papers.

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After high school, I moved to Minnesota and earned a BA in Political Science with a double minor in African Studies and Peace Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College, and I am currently pursuing a Master of Global Affairs with a concentration in Diplomacy and Peace and Conflicts Resolution at Fairleigh Dickinson University. I am also the current Vice President of the Minnesota International Nonprofit Network . After college I started working as a Research, Advocacy and Education Assistant at a nonprofit whose mission is to advocate for Human rights then felt the need to learn what advocacy means from the government side by joining the Board of Commissioners in Minnesota as a Policy Aide. These examples just show how passionate I am about learning, connecting, and sharing to promote quality education.?

My journey started when my parents took me with them on their travels around the country to search for women and children who were victims of war. I did not understand what was going on then. As I got older, I started to understand what my father was doing, and I was inspired by how my parents helped people. I started to feel a call to do similar work and since then, I have been passionate about advocacy, community engagement and interfaith work. It was my vocation to encourage and advocate for access to education for kids born through and other children who do not have access to education.?

What key moments in your life led you to where you are today??

One day, at Let Africa Live, I was interviewing a woman with two children who said that I was too young to be working in the office. I realized that we were the same age and at that time I did not even think about dating or having a kid because I was focusing on my education while she was suffering by having kids whom she did not know their fathers because so many men raped her. Before leaving the room, she told me: “Please don’t stop what you are doing, please continue to advocate for us, tell our story, and help our kids get to school.”?Since that day I promised myself that one day I will help these women and children and allow them to realize that they matter despite what life experiences they have been through.?

When I was authoring my undergraduate senior thesis, I reached out to another beneficiary of the same nonprofit. I was overjoyed to learn that she finished a law degree, and is now a lawyer, and her first daughter was graduating high school that year. She told me almost a similar thing like the other lady- that I could interview her under one condition: “to be the voice of those who can’t be yet at the table where I find myself in the United States.” Her courage and motivation to not give up despite her life experience inspired me and continues to push me to always grab opportunities like participating in things like the CSW68 conference where I can learn a lot from women who share a similar passion.?

Where does your passion to serve come from??

Growing up in this environment has taught me that at any given point of our lives: our talents, knowledge and God’s given gifts must be used to make a difference in the world. Since my childhood, I have been involved in various interfaith initiatives, advocating for social justice, serving in different impactful projects that empower marginalized people to reimagine their future and have a different future.?

Coming to Minnesota and attending college as a first-generation students reminded me of a whole clan that I left behind who did not have the opportunity I was having to get a degree at private school-in the United States-one of the “peaceful countries” in the world. In 2021, I graduated college alongside my sisters and this was another reminder that I-we needed to give back what we are receiving through education. This year, we are opening the first coffee shop in our hometown which will employ youth by teaching them financial literacy, using the space to help them improve their skills and talents and connect them to opportunities to get access to higher education.?

My passion to serve comes from life experiences and my culture or heritage that strongly believes in the notion of Ubuntu (I am because You/We are) which is based on a deep sense of solidarity and humanity.?

How can GlobalMindED help you reach your goals?

Minnesota being my new home away from home, I have learned that there is so much we can get through shared experience. Many of my goals seek to lift as many people as possible out of poverty in Africa and around the world through agriculture and education. How can we bring to the table our skills and talents and use them for the common good? How can we bring the USA experience to Africa and vice versa? How can all the kids get access to education? How can kids born through rape be part of the next policy makers??

Data shows that there is a relationship between poverty and conflict-but this can be solved through collaboration and partnership. GlobalMindED can help me connect with people who are interested in helping Africa and the USA reimagine and have a different future through various initiatives that raise agricultural productivity, create agriculture related?jobs, and improve access to education, especially for women and girls who have been left behind.?

I owe this to so many women who are looking for opportunities to make their voices heard including myself.

Whenever I go back home, I see myself as this person to whom a lot of people are looking for answers and initiative-and I can become this person by learning from other women who have understood what equality and equity mean when it comes to gender. Being connected with GlobalMindED mentors and resources would fulfill my dream and provide an opportunity to gain experience from other women's experiences.