Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program
Lailat José / Mozambique

Province: North Nampula
City: Monapo
Age: 20

Class of 2013-2016

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Scholar: Laetitia Victoria Mukungu Scholar: Leonor Fall

Lailat’s family lives in the village of Monapo in Mozambique’s North Nampula province.

A geography course at her secondary school, African Leadership Academy (ALA) in South Africa, taught Lailat about food production, world populations, and famine. It made her think “maybe I could study agriculture and change something in the future to make sure I contribute so that we don’t have people dying from hunger.”

Lailat wants to return to Mozambique after completing her studies to work with small-scale farmers. She has noticed that most farmers limit themselves to growing one crop type, resulting in health problems from unbalanced diets. Lailat wants to “change lives through small actions. Just by teaching them, and then they’ll increase their crop production, they’ll better their diet, and maybe they’ll get extra income from their production and be able to send their children to better schools.”