Luisa Fumo, Mozambique

Photo by Andrea Lynch

"In April 2000 I was selected to represent my class at a peer education training, and when I told my father, he said I couldn't go because I needed to stay home and do chores and study. I was disappointed, but I had to tell my friend to go in my place. When she came back from the training and told me how wonderful it was, I decided to try again. This time, I asked my mother, and she convinced my father to let me go. At first I was upset because I didn't have my father's support, but later when he saw what kind of work we were doing, he was proud of me. Now we work directly with fathers to convince them how important it is to support their daughters as peer educators. When young people are involved in activism, they don't have as much time to think about things like drugs or unprotected sex. They are happy, they go out, they think about the world. I love my work, because I love being a resource for my peers—it's given me a lot of confidence, especially as a woman."

About Luisa

Luisa Fumo is a peer educator with the youth-focused initiative Geração Biz (Busy Generation) in Maputo, Mozambique. She has participated in trainings and peer education on adolescent health, as well as offering youth perspectives in international meetings. Most recently, she participated in "Mobilizing Young Women: Overcoming Gender Barriers to Activism," a panel presentation organized by IWHC during "Youth and Health: Generation on the Edge," the 31st Annual Global Health Council meeting in Washington, D.C.

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