Nkulukelo "Ziggy" Yeni
Joined ALA September 2008
My name is Ziggy Yeni. I am a South African male and I grew up in Umlazi, a township just south of Durban on the east coast of South Africa. My father passed away before I began primary school and I went to live with my grandmother. In 2001 I moved to live with my mother. She died a year later. Being orphaned at the age of ten was very difficult but fortunately I had a strong family structure to fall back on, which many in my position don’t. I returned to Umlazi in 2002.
There is only one word that can concisely describe my experience at ALA: transformative. As a South African, I suppose the most obvious gain in attending ALA was the exposure. So often, we are wrapped up in our rainbow nation that we seldom get to experience the virtues of other cultures and nations. ALA has provided me with this in abundance. My interaction with people from all over the continent and beyond has been enriching and insightful. More specific highlights undoubtedly included introducing Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Academy’s Grand Opening, attending the World Economic Forum and the Enke Youth Forum - opportunities of which most teenagers can only dream. However, the most demanding and transformative experience of all has definitely been my community service project.
My community service project was named Kids With Insane Talent (KWIT). This rather ironic acronym is very telling of the team and environment in which I worked; we were creative and passionate about our work, and very rewarding work it was. KWIT is a personal development program that seeks to make the children at Swartkop Valley School realize their own potential and believe in themselves so as to never give up on their dreams, to never “kwit”. Working for KWIT as the head of Public Relations and Human Resources was an invaluable learning opportunity for me, and I am eager to apply what I have learned on an even bigger scale in the future.
Currently
Attending Yale University