{"id":15433,"date":"2022-09-15T10:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/?p=15433&preview=true&preview_id=15433"},"modified":"2022-09-16T10:48:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T14:48:36","slug":"tsitsi-makufa-found-stability-as-a-global-citizen-now-shes-determined-to-pay-it-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/tsitsi-makufa-found-stability-as-a-global-citizen-now-shes-determined-to-pay-it-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsitsi Makufa found stability as a global citizen. Now she\u2019s determined to pay it forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Economic turmoil drove Tsitsi Makufa\u2019s family out of Zimbabwe, and the instability they felt there seemed to follow them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family moved to the Kingdom of Eswatini when I was 10 to find better stability,\u201d Makufa said. \u201cI went to four primary schools and two kindergarten schools before starting high school, making high school my seventh school and the longest time spent in one place. I was always the new kid or the kid from a country with an inflationary currency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything changed after Makufa enrolled at Waterford Kamhlaba, United World College of Southern Africa in Eswatini, part of a network of 18 international baccalaureate-granting high schools from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Tsitsi
Tsitsi Makufa<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI was no longer the new kid because everyone else was starting new at the same time,\u201d Makufa said. \u201cBeing an international school, everybody was from somewhere else. It was nice to just interact with people on the same plane even though we had different experiences and perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a proud graduate from Earlham College\u2019s Class of 2022, Makufa is using her early career to spread awareness about the value of an international education. Earlier this spring, Earlham hired Makufa as the College\u2019s first full-time social media coordinator\u2014and she never misses an opportunity to highlight the success stories of her fellow UWC grads studying at Earlham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigh school is where your peak growth happens, and the United World Colleges were established to make sure that people from different places are not being seen as terrible or deserving of pity just because of the passport they hold,\u201d Makufa said. \u201cIt\u2019s about bringing people from all corners of the world into one shared living experience to allow the next generation of people to have a different outlook of the world. It took me seven years to better understand their mission, but the seed was planted from Day 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarlham is very similar, but without the UWC I wouldn\u2019t have discovered Earlham either,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UWC campuses work closely with their students to develop a list of colleges where their graduates can thrive. Earlham wasn\u2019t originally on Makufa\u2019s list, but that quickly changed after reviewing her options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had the same guidance counselor throughout my seven years at UWC and he knew me better than I knew myself,\u201d she said. \u201cHe looked at my interests and he knew I wanted to be surrounded by people who would know my name. He knew I was interested in trying different foods and learning from people with different backgrounds and he knew I wanted to participate in sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I started talking with Earlham\u2019s Office of International Admissions and the Department of Athletics, I knew Earlham was the place for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Earlham, Makufa earned degrees in business with a concentration in marketing and psychology, played tennis and ran track and field, choreographed the Gumboot Dance as part of Dance Alloy, was a campus tour guide to a number of our incoming class, a peer career coach, a student coordinator for new student orientation, an events coordinator for Earlham Student Government and hosted the second-ever TedXEarlhamCollege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent seven years at UWC and I plan to spend at least seven years at Earlham, too,\u201d Makufa said. \u201cThese are two big communities that will always be with me. I\u2019ll never forget about this part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Media contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brian Zimmerman<\/strong>
Director of media relations
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Email: zimmebr@earlham.edu
Phone: 765.983.1256<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n