Lea Komba

Lea arrived at RCN as a passionate public speaker and left as someone who knew exactly what she wanted to do with that energy. At RCN she co-developed LEAF, a digital platform for environmental education in low-income communities, and spoke at TEDx UWCRCN in 2023. But her most striking project came three months before graduation, when she began planning a literature festival in the Namibe province of southern Angola — a part of the country far from the capital, where access to books and cultural events barely exists. She secured funding from the Goethe Institut, assembled a volunteer team, and in June 2024, Festival Akwendge welcomed around 4,000 children and teenagers from 7 schools for two days of storytelling, street libraries, and debates. It was the first event of its kind in Angola. Lea was invited onto radio and TV to speak about it. She is now at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and hopes to take Festival Akwendge to other Angolan cities.