SHE’S AN award-winning documentary
filmmaker who has interviewed some of
the world’s top leaders and just last month
made history by becoming the youngest
person to be interviewed by Forbes
magazine.
But Zuriel Oduwale maintains she is a
regular 11-year-old girl who enjoys
nothing more than to play her Nintendo
Wii and board games with her family.
“I do all the usual things like go to the mall
with my mum and sisters and ride my bike
with my neighbours,” she says, although
she is more than aware her life differs
slightly from most girls her age. “I am in a
home school-based curriculum, so that
allows me to get ahead in my school work
and then I have some time to travel for my
extra curricular programmes like my
Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up
programme, or interviewing leaders for my
documentaries.”
Touted as the next Oprah Winfrey, Zuriel is
committed to rebranding Africa by showing
the positive things about the continent, and
campaigning for education for girls.
Some of the high-profile names Zuriel has
enjoyed exclusive one-to-one time with
include Nigerian president Goodluck
Jonathan and her personal favourite, Prime
Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson.
“She held my hands and prayed for me and
then she put me on her lap to take official
pictures with her, which was very different
from all the other 13 presidents and prime
ministers I have interviewed.”
Zuriel, which is Hebrew for ‘God is my
Rock’, believes by leading by example, girls
may be inspired by her journey and do the
same. That, she believes, can show her
peers and the world the need to educate
the continent’s often forgotten girl child.
Zuriel’s vision for her Dream Up, Speak
Up, Stand Up programme is to inspire girls
to “accomplish their dreams like me” by
using it as a platform to push the
influential work she is doing around the
globe.
When talk moves to the future of the 200
girls kidnapped by Islamic extremists in
Nigeria last month, the 11-year-old said she
was both “sad but relieved at the same
time.”
She explains: “Sad because I can’t imagine
being taken to some strange place by some
strange people, but relieved because the
whole world is talking about it so maybe
something can now be done.”
Keen to prove age is nothing but a number,
Zuriel wants to show parents – and the
world – by “using me as an example, what
their children can do”.
Zuriel began pursuing documentary-
making and journalism when she was nine
after entering a competition in the United
States, where she resides with her
Mauritian mother and Nigerian father and
three siblings – two sisters and one
brother. The competition asked applicants
to produce a documentary “about a
revolution or reaction in history”.
“I knew right away what I wanted to do
even though I was only nine. It was my
opportunity to find a successful revolution
and show the world that Africa is not all
bad.”
In a typical day, Zuriel and her nine-year-
old sister are made to watch an hour of
news and asked to write – and later discuss
– what they have heard with their parents.
“When I watch the news, I find that most
of the news about Africa was always
negative, so I thought I could show
something that was positive like a
successful revolution.”
She then began research on the Ghana
revolution, the 1979 uprising which arose
out of a combination of corruption, bad
governance, lack of discipline in the army
and frustrations among the general public.
Her research took her to the African
continent where she was able to interview
flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, who
led a coup and later became the country’s
head of state.
“I had to take my own camera to interview
President Rawlings, set it up, write my own
questions, shoot the clips and do the editing
because that was the rules of the
competition,” she says. “It was hard, but I
did it. Sometimes I was working late after
doing my homework to complete it.”
But her hard work has paid off. Last year,
aged 10, Zuriel made history by becoming
the youngest person ever to be interviewed
by the prestigious Forbes magazine.
“[At the time] I didn’t understand why
they wanted to interview me,” she says
coolly. “It wasn’t until they said even
though the work I was doing for girls’
education in Africa was not about wealth
creation, it was too special to ignore. They
wanted it in their women’s future leader
edition.
“I think it’s pretty cool now. I understand
what it means and more importantly, a few
months before, Mr Aliko Dangote, the
richest black man in the world, who I have
interviewed, was featured in the magazine.
I feel really special.”
Though Zuriel hopes to explore her chances
in basketball and robotic engineering, her
life-long goal is to become president of the
United States.
“People always ask why I don’t want to be
the president of an African country, but I
feel if I am president of an African
country, I might be able to affect one or
two other countries, but if I am president
of the United States, not only would I be
able to affect the United States, but most
countries in the world including those in
Africa and the Caribbean region. That way,
I can change the way girls are educated
around the world.”
Alabatvnews.
No comments:
Post a Comment