Featured picture by Alice Chen
Final fall, at a retreat within the hills of Santa Fe, New Mexico, I met Dr. Tererai Trent. We had been two midlife girls, speaking between periods about what lived in our hearts. She shared her story: rising up in rural Zimbabwe, married with 4 youngsters by 18, escaping abuse, coming to the U.S., and finally incomes her PhD. What stayed with me wasn’t simply her beating the chances; it was her unwavering mission to offer again — conserving women in class and constructing sustainable futures in the neighborhood the place she grew up.
That lit a spark in me. After I returned dwelling, I started nearly volunteering along with her nonprofit, Tererai Trent Worldwide (TTI). They had been elevating an endowment and wanted assist with storytelling — a ability I exploit day by day in my govt communications position at Cisco.
We determined to provide a video for his or her web site and donors. We had been discussing filming remotely when she talked about an upcoming journey to Zimbabwe. I half-joked, “It’d be a lot simpler if I simply got here.” Fifteen minutes later, I used to be checking flights and realizing it’d really be possible.
That evening, with butterflies in my coronary heart, I pinged my supervisor on Webex to ask if this could possibly be potential — and expressed my concern about leaving the workforce short-handed, particularly after only some months as a full-time worker.
Her speedy sure — mixed with Cisco’s Time2Give paid volunteer time (80 hours a 12 months along with our trip time without work, satirically, the precise variety of days I’d be away) — was surreal, exhilarating, and crammed me with gratitude.
It wasn’t nearly time without work. It was the belief and the assumption that who I’m exterior of labor issues simply as a lot as what I contribute inside Cisco, and that uncommon type of help blew me away.
Three quick weeks later, I used to be packing my bag and heading to Africa.
Pictures by Alice Chen
At every faculty we visited, the challenges had been plain to see: school rooms with out dependable water, electrical energy, or meals; buildings in pressing want of restore. We filmed scholarship recipients, mother and father, and academics whose tales confirmed the influence TTI is making on the bottom.
I met Sarah, who graduated with assist from TTI and now works in communications within the capital metropolis of Harare. She sends cash dwelling to help her mother and father and youthful siblings, and after we visited her household, they spoke with such satisfaction about how her achievement is reworking their high quality of life, displaying how alternatives ripple outward, touching many lives.
One other lady used her scholarship to grow to be a instructor targeted on youngsters with disabilities in a tradition the place these moms, like herself, are sometimes stigmatized. She is working to problem that stigma, offering faculties with assets to incorporate youngsters of all skills in courses fairly than conserving them at dwelling, mirroring the type of inclusion we expertise at Cisco and work to offer the world.
What Florence shared has stayed with me the longest. After being humiliated in entrance of her total class, she left faculty for a 12 months. A scholarship helped her return, graduate from college, and right this moment she helps different women keep away from the identical destiny by stitching and distributing reusable interval pads — reworking her hardest second into dignity and alternative for others.
Pictures by Alice Chen
In all places I went, I noticed willpower: keen college students, dedicated academics, and a group intent on rising. Clear water feeds faculty gardens that nourish youngsters and generate earnings, and stitching collectives give girls dignified work and actual selection of their futures. Listening to these girls inform their tales in particular person, I used to be deeply moved — humbled not solely by their resilience, however by the reminder of how a lot we are able to accomplish when somebody helps and believes in us.
I noticed firsthand that Tererai and her workforce aren’t simply working a nonprofit; they’re constructing an ecosystem. Management seemed much less like a title and extra like getting proximate, being attentive to what really issues, and seeing how every little thing connects.
Right here, at Cisco, I assist leaders talk with readability, authenticity, and coronary heart. My time in Zimbabwe strengthened all these muscle mass — giving me real-world examples of how programs pondering, good questions, and deep listening, mixed with persistence and empathy, enhance outcomes. That video Tererai and I first dreamed about is now coming to life — without charge to her group — utilizing the abilities and contacts I’ve present in my position. That alignment between influence and craft is one cause I #LoveWhereIWork. Cisco doesn’t simply discuss Goal; it makes room for us to dwell it.
My recommendation is easy: increase your hand, anticipate the sudden, and say sure to the moments that stretch you. At Cisco, we’re inspired to comply with alternatives that generally really feel greater than our job descriptions. Once we do, we not solely develop — we discover ourselves a part of one thing that’s making a distinction on the planet.
In Shona, Zimbabwe’s native language, there’s a phrase: Tinogona — it’s achievable. Cisco’s Goal is easy: to Energy an Inclusive Future for All. Collectively, we are able to make it potential.
Able to make a worldwide influence, an actual distinction on the planet, and dedicate time to causes you care about, supported by applications like Time2Give? Be part of us!
