The Akilah Institute for Women

Last night, the Akilah-AfH team in D.C. took our ideas on the road (or, across town to be precise) to give a lecture at the School of Architecture and Planning at Catholic University. Professor Adnan Morshed invited us to speak to a large group of undergrads and Masters students on the topic of how architecture can be applied through activism to achieve social goals. Of course, AfH’s mission is perfectly in line with Professor Morshed’s concept, and our architects’ enthusiasm for community involvement/betterment certainly made that apparent.

Vrunda and Shurid represented AfH and put together a spectacular slideshow of photographs and drawings to illustrate their various projects, tell the story of how they got involved with Akilah, and show what inspired them on their first trip to Rwanda last fall. I spoke for the Akilah team about the history of the organization and our beautiful land in Mayange, the evolution of the project, and the involvement of our broader global team.

Professor Morshed and his students posed thoughtful questions and gave us enthusiastic feedback. Sitting in the audience among the C.U. students was a contingent of brand new AfH’ers from Virginia Tech who had driven four hours to see our presentation and learn about how to get their campus AfH branch started. It’s always so inspiring to meet other young people who are interested in putting their skills to use to make meaningful change in our own communities and abroad. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some new faces at AfH’s next meeting!

If you’re interested in getting involved, send an email to laura@ProjectAkilah.org.

Laura presents at CU School for Architecture and Planning