IB graduate profile - Modesta Mahiga

Graduated from Waterford Kamhlaba, Swaziland, in 1999.

"My name is Modesta Mahiga. I am 22, and I am from Tanzania. I graduated in 1999 from Waterford Kamhlaba (United World College South Africa) in Mbabane, Swaziland. I spent four years in Waterford, and so far those were the best years of my life. I believe that 99% of the people who attended that school would agree with me. Its history and geography contribute greatly to a special experience. The school was founded in 1963 by Mr. Michael Stern as a school where both black and white youths could study together, away from the apartheid laws of South Africa, just across the border. It became a member of the United World Colleges (UWC) in the 1970’s, and an IB school in 1981. One needs to know about the UWC ethos to understand why this institution is deemed so special to all that attend it.

Right, back to me. After IB I went back to Tanzania, where I worked for six months as an intern for the tax and legal department of PricewaterhouseCoopers. I am now at Durham University in England, studying for an LLB Law degree. My plans for after graduation are primarily to work for international development agencies in England or elsewhere in Europe. I will defer postgraduate studies for the next academic year.

The few activities I have been involved in since Waterford I have enjoyed tremendously. I am interested in family law, gender issues, and the development of Sub-Saharan Africa. In the summer of 2001 I worked for Social Services in Birmingham in the children and families department. Although my involvement was mostly administrative in nature, the responsibilities I was delegated as well as the sense of inclusion in the team of professional social workers made me feel that I was as invaluable a member of that department as any other. I had the opportunity of liaising with clients and looking after little children, and it made my day more worthwhile. I also got to speak to a few asylum seeker parents about everyday life.

At University I joined the Gender Action Group, which was founded with the aim of improving gender relations between people by hosting talks by academics on the different contexts in which gender disparity appears, discussing the reasons for this, and what socially constructed factors contribute to it. It is a most vibrant and involving group and I am glad to have been on the executive committee.

I hope to make a difference in the developing world. I believe that it has to start at the community level. Education and empowerment are the way forward."