When we posted our first blog entries for the Institute of Marine Sciences in Zanzibar, Siajali Pamba had just begun his PhD work there, under IMS director Prof. Alfonse Dubi. By now Pamba (he is called by his last name) is well along in his field research, and with Dr. Dubi’s departure, the advisory duties have moved to Dr. Yohana Shaghude and Prof. Alfred Muzuka.

This is an update on an earlier profile here.

Gaolathe Tsheboeng, congenial and easygoing, had a smoother and more direct path into the RISE program than those who spent years searching for financial support while surviving on less stimulating work. Gaolathe, living in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, heard about RISE just as he was finishing his BS degree at the University of Botswana and was quickly able to take advantage of it.

Kelebogile “Kele” Cole entered the RISE program last year with powerful momentum – and from an unlikely background. Her family originated in Sierra Leone, but her grandfather, curious about the outside world, moved to the United States in search of a different life. After his curiosity was satisfied, he returned to Africa, settling in what is now Lesotho.

When Kondja Amutenya was growing up in northern Namibia, he was instructed early and often how important it would be to get a good education. His father, who worked in a diamond mine in the south, was virtually never home with his family. Kondja learned first-hand about another kind of life he did not care for – livestock herding.

Moseki Motsholapheko entered the RISE program by an unusual route – from the field of environmental science (or human geography), and “from the inside.” He had been working as a social scientist at the Okavango Research Institute since 2000 as a research assistant, studying human adaptation to flooding.

Five RISE students have been part of an exciting transition at the Okavango Research Institute (ORI), in Maun, Botswana. As of October 1, 2010, the ORI (formerly the Okavango Research Center) attained the standing of a full Institute of the University of Botswana , and it is scheduled to become the University’s second campus by 2015.

For 15 years, Thomas Egwang, founder and director of Med Biotech Laboratories in Kampala, has been trying to help people afflicted with malaria, primarily children, who are the most vulnerable and who account for some 80 percent of malaria deaths. His work is centered on and around the town of Apac, located about 200 miles north of Kampala.

Within the Faculty of Technology at Makerere University, the Department of Electrical Engineering has established an outreach program to support community wireless networks based at “telecenters” in small cities and rural areas, where the cost of bandwidth is still high.