Christinah Hambira, a first-year student at the Clinton School of Public Service, has been selected to attend the 2024 Fulbright Seminar in Atlanta, Ga.
The enrichment seminar will allow for Hambira and other select Fulbrighters to interact with a range of local experts and partake in panel discussions, site visits, and community service.
The theme of the 2024 Atlanta Fulbright Seminar is “From Then to Now: Exploring the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.” Fulbrighters will explore how a modern American city is addressing the legacy of racism and discrimination by learning from its past, taking stock of its present, and looking to a brighter future.
The group will meet with experts and community representatives to learn how they approach innovative policy, education, and economic initiatives to move their city forward.
For Hambira, the seminar is the latest step in a Fulbright journey began in 2015 when she was selected for the Fulbright Distinguished Teachers Award. A native of Botswana, she traveled to Bloomington, Ind., for five months with the Indiana University School of Education.
Hambira participated in weekly school visits to Bloomington High School North and University Elementary School. She and her cohort members observed teaching and learning at Christel House Academy in Indianapolis; Columbus Signature Academy Fodrea Campus and New Tech Campus in Columbus, Ind.; and University of Chicago Lab School in Chicago.
At the end of her semester in Bloomington, Hambira returned home to Botswana where she is the founding director of the Kgalagadi Women’s Empowerment Centre, an organization for the women and children in the Kgalagadi District of Botswana.
In 2022, Hambira began hosting American English Teacher Assistant Fellows through the Fulbright Program at her school. It was then that she became familiar with the Clinton School.
“The ETA I hosted in 2022 happened to be from Little Rock,” Hambira said. “It was through him that I came to know about the Clinton School of Public Service, and then I applied (to the school).”
In a full-circle moment, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for her tuition and travel to continue her studies in Little Rock.
Now, as she prepares to attend the Atlanta Fulbright Seminar, Hambira is excited to utilize her public service toolkit from the Clinton School in a unique and powerful setting.
“Public service permeates all spheres of life and all practices,” Hambira said “My interest is to see how, using the angle of public service, the topic of race can be addressed in the twenty-first century by recognizing history but dwelling more on the now and the future of the U.S. in addressing the issue of racism and discrimination.”
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