LOUISE KANZA

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SOUTH AFRICA, 27

Project: Fugee Assist
Focus Area: Refugee and Asylum

Louise is a peace activist and the Co-founder of the Sophie A Kanza Foundation – a youth-led organization that spreads active volunteerism and tolerance through Pan Africanism. Co-founded by Louise and her sister Sophie, the organization has a footprint in South Africa, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with youth volunteers from all over the continent of Africa.

Louise was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and raised in South Africa, which gave her a unique lens of xenophobia. The mission of the Sophie A Kanza Foundation is to unite young people from different backgrounds with service, while encouraging them to make a positive impact. Their work is rooted in the belief that by building friendships and learning about each other, all brothers and sisters of Africa will come to understand they are more the same than different. 

In 2017, Louise’s short film titled, “We Are Human” won the “I Am a Migrant” Award at the PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival, a joint initiative of United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The film explores the stereotypes and discrimination faced by young African immigrants living in South Africa and conveys a powerful message of social inclusion.

Louise holds a BA in International Relations and a BA (Hons) in International Politics from the University of South Africa.

More: Facebook : @sophieakanzafoundation
Media Video (SABC News)

“If there was a limitless world we would be able to get through to the government to tell them, listen these are the issues.”