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Monday night’s Ubuntu Dialogue #1: Justice with Compassion brought together two remarkable thinkers, Dr. Siyabulela Mandela Ph.D. 🇿🇦✌🏿🇵🇸 and Dr. Kofi Hope, DPhil, for an evening that spanned international policy, conflict resolution, and community engagement.

I started the semester as a Pod Lead with the Black Student Success Centre (BSSC) Welcome Week Team. As an outgoing student, I found it particularly important to be part of the orientation of our incoming class of Black students. The first years were the focus of the week but seeing our community grow and relationships form made for a very fulfilling experience.

When I sent that first email to the ACGSA team to be added to the membership list, I had no idea that one day I would serve as President of ACGSA McMaster University, the only Black-focused graduate student association at McMaster University.

I had the chance of attending the first Ubuntu Dialogue: Justice with Compassion at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. The evening featured powerful discussions with trailblazing political scientists, including Rhodes Scholar Dr. Kofi Hope, DPhil and Dr. Siyabulela Mandela Ph.D. 🇿🇦✌🏿🇵🇸 —whose presence echoed the legacy of his great-grandfather, Nelson Mandela.

Since its inception only a few years ago, McMaster University‘s Black Student Success Centre (BSSC) has grown into a dynamic hub supporting and championing the academic, personal, and professional success and overall well-being of students.

It was a pleasure to be invited as a panelist for the Success & Sanity event last Thursday organized by the Black Student Success Centre Chinazo (Nazo) Okereke, CHRP and Landry Kalembo, MSc, PhD(c) . What made the experience meaningful was the opportunity to speak openly about lived experiences that are not unique to me, but shared by many student-migrants navigating academic, professional, and personal spaces simultaneously.