Women Born In The 1980s

"For someone like me who wanted to do something different in the technology domain, I didn’t have many role models I could look up to. I think this is why I’m so passionate about mentoring young girls.Rachel speaking on why she mentors young African women in STEM"

"We all hold the piece of knowledge that can be instrumental in designing a better future."

"This sounds cliche, but I’m just always driven by this need for social justice. I do feel like, on one hand, that digital tech has the ability to transform people’s lives in terms of improving their life experiences and how they interact with governments, how governments provide services, how you receive education, how you receive entertainment, and how you work."

"I established coding clubs for girls and children; a robotics club and machine learning community camps that have trained over 92,000 children, girls, youth and women to develop innovative technology solutions. I am also an entrepreneur in the energy space championing the development of low cost power through a thermal chemical process for rural micro grids. Rachel speaking on some of her achievements"

"I realised my biggest asset was my technology skills and I started volunteering on various projects to gain relevant experience. Rachel during an interview with founding women"

"To succeed in tech or any other male- dominated field as a woman, you need more than the technical skills; you also need to be confident, speak up and make your presence felt.Rachel speaking to women during an interview with the founding women"

"It is still tough because you constantly have to make sacrifices in order to strike a balance.Rachel speaking on the challenges of being an innovator"

"If you don’t start now, you probably never will.Rachel speaking to African women."

"We need something like this back home. I’m going to start it. Rachel speaking on her inspiration and motivation for starting mHUB"

"I am a dreamer. I like to dive into the depths of curiosity where introversion meets outspokenness, and geekiness reigns supreme! Rachel speaking on her drive"

"Realising that I need to make the best out of these opportunities not only for myself but for them has helped me manage the guilt, even though I still do feel it.Rachel speaking on the challenges women face especially childbearing and the tough decisions she had to make as a woman after a lost opportunity"

"“My parents supported me to pursue whatever field I wanted and raised me with the mentality that girls could do anything just as well as boys." Rachel speaking on the role her parents played in her growth and success"

"If it's time for work or study, be serious, be the best. Then go out, dance, have fun-enjoy life to the fullest"

""The natural products industry in Africa has existed since time immemorial, but we need to rethink how to make things better. When you go through Kampala streets, many people are packaging in polythene and others. So we need to rethink and find a way of getting away with this polythene and standardize our products"."

"In science, you are dealing with facts. You prove them or dispute them, not the complicated stories of wars that happened before we were born."

""From Standard One, dad gave us over 100 mathematical numbers to solve every holiday. That is how we got used to mathematics"."

""Finding scientific solutions to key problems affecting society, like maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition among mothers, children, and people living with HIV, is the most beneficial research one can ever do"."

"I don't have those emotional stories. I did not face challenges as such... God planned my story well."

""I accepted without hesitation because I trust myself and have the confidence that I can do anything and deliver appropriately"."

"Whenever I am in a relationship, I go all out for the person. I always put the people I love ahead of my needs. When I am in a relationship, I invest all my energy and resources which ends up draining me and slowing me down. I get turned off when I realize the affection is only one-sided."

"It is not something I'm looking forward to or looking at all. I'm not with anybody, but I'm not interested. I'm not looking forward to be with anybody because that is not my focus."

"It annoys me when some men take advantage of me after showing them love and care."

"I have witnessed a situation where a patient approach a healthcare centre and the doctor is not there. Anything can happen so I advised them to take their work serious and to be there when they need to be there. Healthcare delivery is like playing football. If I pass the ball to you and you refuse to pass it where it is supposed to be passed, the person can die and you know death is irreversible."

"Simple measures like digging pit toilets will go a long way to control cholera. But you see them defecating in the bush and when rain fall, all the feases will be washed into their water source and they will still fetch it to cook and drink. So why won’t there be cholera. So if there is adequate provision of portable water in the state and simple health education to communities that some habits are injurious to their health, it will curb cholera."

"For instance, the Hausa community said because government does not want their population to grow, they have brought these drugs. They are alienating themselves from taking it and it is free. It has cost American government money to make these drugs available but because of the belief and lack of understanding they are not accepting the use of those drugs."

"In Benue, almost a whole community of Ikyor in Kwande local government Area of the state was rendered blind because of the Onchocerchiasis. The damage has been done before the Metizan drugs was made available. And for the healthy people in that community, the drugs were supplied to them."

"Benue is a hyper endemic area for the river blindness and if you take it because I also take it, worms will not blind your eyes. The other causes of blindness like glaucoma, glaucoma is our worst enemy. You may be carrying it and may not know until a specialist tells you that you have glaucoma and then you start early treatment. If glaucoma blinds you it’s irreversible but if diseases like cataract blinds you, it’s good news because it is reversible. So people should access the metizan drugs, use it to help themselves."

"I hear in the U.S. that women don’t have the same opportunities or the same paycheck as men. Where I’m from it’s worse because women have the same opportunities and paycheck, they’re just led to believe that their opportunities are limited. Helping them understand that they can do whatever they want, that there’s nothing wrong if they want to be a housewife. But there’s also nothing wrong if they want to push the boundaries and do something else."

"... Nowadays I have not only learned to overcome these hardships, but to learn from them. Now I understand they stand for the work we’re doing toward a better future, something greater than ourselves."

"The best part is meeting people from all over who, like me, travel all over the world and never really feel like they belong somewhere."

"The immunization programme has been very active and the people that are engaged are equally active. They have been going from house to house ensuring that children of those ages are immunized against the six killer diseases which polio is one of them. So the sustained action has given Nigeria the positive result."

"Polio is a viral disease and it multiplies where you have a dirty environment. But with the effective polio immunization programmes on ground, we will not have reoccurrence of cases of polio again. This goes for the other childhood diseases as well, If government can sustain the expanded programme on immunization, we will definitely get rid of polio and all other child killer diseases. And I want to assure that my office will ensure it is sustained in Benue here."

"I come from a society where, if you ask a child what they want to be, they will only think of things associated with material goods. Jobs that will get them clothes or houses or cars. Because paths outside of that aren’t encouraged. Following their hearts isn’t encouraged. But when those people realize how much more there is out there to explore, they become the most passionate people about making a change."

"There are a lot of people who try to stop you for different reasons – because they don’t believe in you, or because you’re too young to be taken seriously, or because you’re a woman. It has happened to me several times, and I didn’t think it was possible until I entered this world."

"....there is this conception about conservation that you have to focus on one thing and stay with that until you die. I think that is a misconception, especially if you want to push forward change and contribute to the improvement and application of policies, because if you only have field experience then you won’t be able to bring that into influencing policymakers."

"One thing I tell myself is that, if you give up now you are not giving up because of others, you are giving up because of yourself. If you want to stop then that’s your choice, but bear in mind that it is never someone else’s fault, it’s never an obstacle, it’s never a situation, it’s you."

"In the current world we are very focused on having a voice, and having a voice is very important, but hearing the voices of others is even more important."

"There’s a lot of literature that suggests the need for protection of that area. It would be in the southernmost tip of the Angolan coast. And it’s an area that borders Libya which has a high migration route, so we think we have a lot of biodiversity near there. It is also thought to be the largest nursery ground for mackerel, which is important for fisheries in Angola and Libya. It’s adjacent to a protected area in Libya and two national parks, so it would create this whole square of conservation of land and ocean that are independent of each other but can still work together in regards to conservation."

"Sometimes we have to take a step back. That doesn’t mean that you have to stop moving forward, it just means that it might not be at the pace that you want, and that is very normal."

"Motivation helps, but if you are not disciplined, if you are not focused and have no goal, it is very difficult to keep going."

"In the beginning, the hardest things about the expeditions would be superficial things: eating rice and beans twice a day for four months, the relative concept of cleanliness, the lack of affection and communication with the outside world, being the only girl (most times) amongst a bunch of guys."

"As conservationists we see degradation happening every day, so we are always in a hurry – we want things to happen right now."

"The best part of my job is being able to include the environment in topics that most people think are completely unrelated."

"I wouldn’t tell you that X or Y awards were the best parts of my career; it’s actually the work that led me to those awards that are the best."

"I think one of the main reasons that projects usually don’t include communities is that it’s a very long-term approach. First, you have to build trust, then you have to learn to speak their language and dialogue. You have to understand what they think, what they know, how they see the environment, and only then can you start proposing certain concepts that they can apply to their livelihoods. That is something that takes a lot of time, a lot of human effort, and a lot of patience."

"This issue is not peculiar to Benue state alone. They have an act that enable them to market their traditional medicine. So, I am not going to tell you that we are going to close down their businesses but we are going to monitor and control their activities. Like in the conventional medicine, the doctors, we are not allowed to advertise our practices. It is against our ethics. So we need to bring these people to the knowledge that advertisement is not allowed in health matters. Your results should attract more patients to you and not you singing your praises."

"Biology is not really a known career in Angola. The oil and gas industry accounts for over 90 percent of the country’s economy, so biology, conservation, and other nature-related careers are looked down upon. They see biologist as being like the characters in Zootopia — it’s not a real job. Most people would only consider it if they had no other options."

"It’s very sensitive, but also very rewarding."

"One thing that I can say I am actually proud of is overcoming all of the obstacles. So, it’s not the awards, it’s not the positions, it’s none of that, it’s the work that led to those accolades that I think are my biggest accomplishments."

"As one grows, obstacles along the career path will shatter the dreams you had, but help you to create a different dream. I call it ‘adult dreaming’."