Meeting the Duke of Sussex. My Narrative

 

(2nd person from the right, first row- in glasses)

The Double Pronged Opportunity

I had the opportunity to partake to represent one of the most powerful forces present in the  African continent and the world- the CAMFED Association (CAMA) at the Annual CAMFED Association meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. Looking at it today, I am as right as then; I was not only participating in the association's annual review and planning meeting, I met the Duke! 

In my earlier post, I shared the full narrative of my entire experience and feelings about this opportunity. You can read more here. 

The Surprise

It was the morning of the 27th of November, 2018. I was happy about this day. Excited to move from the hotel and overly thrilled at the thought of meeting in person the Duke of Sussex- Prince Harry. Brief message: I had seen Prince Harry and his wife- Meghan Markle (Duchess of Sussex) on television back at home. What else made the thought of seeing him in person was the fact that Prince Harry led the very initiative that supported young Africans and especially girls' education in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Queen's Commonwealth Trust Fund. This program as I have known has enabled hundreds of thousands of young people and girls to receive education, start their own businesses, and transform their communities. Because in life, I have always known that kindness is the only language everyone understands. Personally, I understood that many donors around the world chose to believe in the course of transforming societies through supporting girl child education. I am a testament to what power the girl child education agenda wields in transforming lives and communities, especially in Africa.

At Circus Zambia- the venue for representatives of the different initiatives the Commonwealth Trust Fund had supported including the Nobel Prize Award Winner and NGO of different years: CAMFED, to meet the Duke in person. As I expected, we went to the Circus earlier and had the chance to experience the different traces of arts in Zambia at the venue. 

The Duke is Here!

Pardon me, I did not understand the royalty titles then and I am even today still trying to grasp the differences of who actually is the title I am mentioning. Well, maybe because in my country of origin, royalty was expressed differently, I mean it, very differently (we can discuss that later). 

After a while, the stages were set, everything was ready and the Duke was already on the premises. Jump? Smile? Observe? How did I really feel? Frankly, I did all those and added surprise at the sight of this royal and impactful figure. Hailing and singing our welcome cheering song from the CAMFED Association in the Zambian language, I saw men in suits. The Duke in a suit was exactly what I expected but also with a long entourage of army or guards, very like what I see back at home and around the world whenever power and royalty arrived.

Yet in the crowd outside the hall was the Duke, Prince Harry, amongst the beautiful group of young dancers and acrobatics from Circus. 'He's mixed up amongst the people?' I asked myself. For me, that was not a huge surprise because I had seen Meghan and Harry (Duke & Duchess) in poor communities and amongst young people. However, I saw humility in action as he preferred to join the dancing and shake the hands of everyone who had reached out.

What else? The Duke had worn simplicity- nice black long sleeves (sleeves folded up) with smart pair of high-quality trousers; my description of what I saw. But wait, 'where are the quality sparkling different colors of suits, like I saw on TV?" I wondered. Some of the men with him wore suits as I expected. I was wowed that the Prince was willing to look like an African on a normal sunny day like that.

The Speech

The Duke had listened sitting on the stage amongst four other young persons, to the speeches of each of the panelists. Standing out of the speeches was the speech of Fatima, my Zambian sister who had faced resistance to her own education and had fought to educate her community leaders to buy into the need to educate the girl child as she was now a teacher. 

It was time to listen to the Duke of Sussex. The speech of the Duke was succinct and inspiring, appreciating the works of the African young people - the very ones that had been supported by the Commonwealth Trust program. The very last sentence keeps ringing: 'This is just the beginning...'. 

After his speech, the Duke was not led away to be driven off, he joined us in taking shots. A very memorable experience. 

What do I want to Say? 

The essence of this post is not to simply narrate an experience I have had, but to share also what I learned from my encounter with Prince Harry. 

Be the Change: Fellow young people, if there is something we ought to remember, we ought to remember that we are strategically placed in our communities, countries, and continents for a purpose we each have to identify for ourselves. The young people I met there are not the only inspiration, but they have decided to be the change and lead other young people to create positive impacts in their communities. No matter how small, refuse to be idle and unconcerned. Awarded or not, you have made the world better than you met it.

We are One People: From my encounter, there is no better race than the human race. The Duke could represent power, wealth, and royalty, yet the answer is we are all human. We ought to each try to see the good in others, because their good, is as good as ours. Just because we present solutions in different forms, shapes, and magnitudes do not make others less. Let us try to be humble on our ways to the top because the people down there are at least the evidence of why you are seen to be at the top.

I will put a stop to this piece by saying that I am a Learner for Life, and next time, I will share more about the people life gives me the opportunity to meet and what it means to me in days yet to unfold.

by Veronica Agyiri

Image Credit: PEOPLE.com