The Minority Africa Fellowship is excited to announce the 2022 inaugural fellows. The six fellows chosen from over 230 applications comprise writers, photographers, and filmmakers who were selected for the strength of their work as well as a clear demonstration of how the program would bolster their individual commitment to reporting on marginalised groups.
Representing various minority groups, fellows in this cohort come from South Sudan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, and Namibia, with one fellow living in South Africa. They are passionate about reporting on the rights of refugees, LGBTQ+ rights and underground queer communities, sex workers, women, waterfront communities, climate change, and persons with disabilities particularly in conflict.
They will complete a six month program beginning in June 2022 and running through to November 2022. During which, they will embark on individual and collective reporting assignments for Minority Africa.
Meet the fellows
Uganda
Aida is a 22 year old photographer, videographer and all round creative from Jinja, Uganda. Her specialty is portraits, and she loves meeting new people and capturing their essence with her lens. She hopes to capture and write about stigmatized communities in Uganda, contributing to making a more accepting society as a whole. In her free time she enjoys swimming in the river, learning about spirituality and eating groundnut sauce.
South Africa
Bayron’s life journey began in the small town of Rehoboth in southern Namibia where he was born. As a child, he struggled with his sexuality because of the stigma associated with being openly gay. It took him a long while to accept who he was and to be comfortable with his own sexuality. Bayron is a human rights activist, writer and scholar interested in LGBTIQA+, environmental and climate change issues. Currently, he is studying in Cape Town, South Africa. His work focuses on LGBTIQA+ organizing in Namibia and through his work, he hopes to bring about more social justice for LGBTIQA+ persons living in Namibia.
Uganda
Alison Lemeri Francis is a South Sudanese refugee, journalist and podcast producer in Uganda. He produces a community-centered media podcast for refugees in Omugo refugee settlement. Lemeri has more than 5-years of experience in media work including reporting for print, radio and online media. He’s currently a student of Morris Journalism Academy Australia specializing in freelance journalism and is a graduate in Business Administration from Makerere University Business School. He’s passionate about telling in-depth stories of local grassroots efforts and underreported voices in areas of media, entrepreneurship, education, environment and climate change.
Cameroon
Kesah Princely is a Cameroonian Journalist and a disability advocate. He is the founder and Executive Director of TWIF NEWS, a digital news website which aims to shine a light on disability in Cameroon. He spends time advocating for the inclusion and participation in mainstream activities of persons with disabilities through his journalism for change.
Nigeria
Opeyemi Rasak-Oyadiran is a lawyer and writer. She is an alumni of the 2018 Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop. She lives and writes from Nigeria.
Ethiopia
Leyti* (name changed to protect identity) is a photographer, researcher and storyteller based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leyti created SEMALBA, which is a collaboration of queer artists and researchers to share, preserve, celebrate and archive underground stories by and for LGBTQI+ Ethiopians.
Read the essential newsletter from our fellows
Once every month, Minority Africa fellows will work together to send out a cohort led newsletter product of their own. Subscribe here to read this and for general updates about the fellowship.