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Sifelani Tsiko Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor
A Bulawayo-based student has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money to undertake a biomedical degree in the United States.
Rutendo Kahari, 20, says she launched the campaign to assist her with tuition, housing and other higher education expenses at 13 universities she has applied for in the US.
She has been accepted at two universities that include the US Baylor University. Rutendo has also applied to other institutions that include Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, Stanford and University of Pennsylvania.
“I have applied to 13 universities and I have been accepted at the US Baylor University and another one. I am on a mission to introduce the power of emerging science to reduce the high disease burden and promote health equity in Africa, all inspired by my experience with my late father, who was chronically ill for 10 years,” she says.
“I chose to study in the US in order to pursue my university studies at these institutions which offer hands-on biology programs that complement my academic interests which can expose me to cutting-edge research projects that positively impact Africa, offers mentorship opportunities with professors who are passionate about global health, and supports growth as I transition into college.”
She studied Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry at Speciss College in Bulawayo.
Rutendo hopes to learn more about the importance of critical innovations in the history of medicine and exploring global health, while gaining mentorship from established professors.
“Such experiences will help me to understand how emerging fields of science —phage therapy, genetic engineering, synthetic biology and precision medicine — can provide solutions to tropical and infectious diseases that burden my continent, Africa (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, and more,” she says.
“I am confident that college will advance me one step closer to pursuing my dream career as a biomedical researcher, by providing me with the academic knowledge I need for the future when I hope to lead healthcare reform in Zimbabwe and neighbouring nations.
“I aim to work alongside developing communities to enhance their strengths and suggest solutions for their limitations in healthcare without imposing or erasing their traditions.”
She hopes to raise more US$70 000 to cover her annual tuition and other expenses.
The student who is currently participating in an elite program for young change-makers with Global Citizen Year in Cape Town, South Africa is also working as a teaching assistant for a local high school teaching biology and chemistry.
She is appealing to well-wishers for help and can be helped through: GoFundMe:
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