Every year on December 5th, which is National Day of the Tree, girls bring in a plant, seed, or seedlings to plant at the school. 90% percent of the girls have participated in this traditio ,whereby their own trees continue to grow on campus.
The canteen also uses reusable plates, cups, and utensils for breakfast and lunch. The school is committed to utilizing sustainable procedures whenever possible. There is a now local garden and farm at the community center, which has a compost area that allows leftover food to decompose naturally and with purpose.
Noëlla works tirelessly to cultivate the power of education and has reached out beyond the village of Kalebuka, to the nation of the DRC and to the continent of Africa in order to engage with surrounding communities and invite them to be a part of her education revolution. As a passionate advocate for girls’ education across the globe, Noëlla has shared her insight and perspective at a number of world-class forums spanning the Clinton Global Initiative and the World Economic Forum in Davos to the halls of Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard Universities, the offices of UNICEF, and in front of global corporations. This year, she delivered a keynote speech at the 2019 Forbes Leading Women Summit in Durban, South Africa for International Women’s Day.
As one of the leading voices in girls’ education in Africa, Noëlla is an Ambassador for The Global Fund, to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Noëlla has been interviewed about her philanthropic work on global news outlets such as CNN and the BBC, has given a TED Talk, and has presented in front of top executives from multinationals like SAP and T-Systems. She has been named one of ELLE’s incredible women shaping Africa, one of Lifestyles’ most powerful women in philanthropy, and one of the BBC’s most inspirational and influential women of 2017.
Noella recently appeared as a featured speaker at MIT Solve in Boston. Participating in the ‘Innovation For and By Women’ panel, alongside an inspiring group of female leaders, Noella shared the story of Malaika and gave her insight into the power of female entrepreneurs.