Portia Durbin’s Akilah Journey
Our January Donor Spotlight
Akilah’s mission is to educate Africa’s female leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges through a lens of opportunity and sustainability. Our work would be impossible the ongoing support of an incredible community of donors, volunteers, and partners.
Portia and her husband Chris
Portia Durbin is one such supporter. Together with her husband Chris, Portia has been a passionate friend of Akilah and an advocate for women’s education in East Africa.
Portia recently hosted a very successful fundraising breakfast for Akilah at her home in Boston, where the President of the Akilah Institute, Karen Sherman, was the featured speaker.
In an exchange after the event, Portia shared with us the journey that brought her to Akilah, the highlights of her time with us, and her hopes for Akilah’s future.
An early passion for education
Portia grew up in Connecticut and attended college at the University of Notre Dame. After college, she worked in the insurance and financial services industries, first in Chicago and later in Boston. The latter city she now calls home, having moved after marrying Chris, her college sweetheart. It was in Boston that the couple’s four children (now aged 25, 22, 19 and 17) were born.
Portia, Chris, and their four children
It was at this time that Portia first developed her deep passion for education. At first, she volunteered within the community in many various capacities, including President of the Parents Association at the Catholic all-girls school, Newton Country Day. Later, she co-founded a faith formation program, based in the arts, at St. Ignatius Church on the campus of Boston College.
“My partner and I created the pedagogy, curriculum, standards, teacher training as well as it’s institutionalization once I retired. My favorite part was teaching students grades K-8 during these 15 years.” — Portia Durbin
Portia credits researching and teaching this program a core factor in the deepening of her passion for social justice and action. Her first exposure to East Africa came at this time as well. A parent of students in the program introduced Portia to the SEGA school in Tanzania. Soon after, Portia and Chris started supporting the organization.
A friend’s introduction and the event that lit the spark
Portia was introduced to Akilah through another friend, Anne DiGiovanni. After learning of their shared interest in education, women empowerment, and social justice, Anne invited Portia to an Akilah event. The rest, as they say, is history.
Portia tells us that her husband and she were so impressed, they joined Akilah’s Scholar Circle that same evening. Having already been supporting the younger students in Tanzania, becoming an Akilah supporter felt like a natural progression.
“The Akilah model to link education directly with jobs, made incredible sense to me. I was excited to move to the next step; empowering young women to get an education that would lead to employment.” — Portia Durbin
Portia’s Akilah highlights
Students at the Akilah Institute
Portia shared with us that for her, the biggest highlights of being a friend of Akilah have been hearing the stories of success and accomplishment among young women in Africa that Akilah has enabled.
For example, among Akilah’s more than 500 graduates one can find leading software developers in solar energy and data analysis, Rwanda’s first-ever female safari operator, and an entrepreneur that has created more than one hundred jobs).
“ Meeting some of the students from Akilah who have come to the US, hearing their stories, and seeing their confidence first hand is incredibly inspiring. These women are as accomplished as my own daughters, yet they have overcome such enormous obstacles. I plan to travel to Rwanda for Akilah’s graduation in November of 2019 to meet even more of these remarkable women.” — Portia Durbin
What the future holds
When talking to others about Akilah, Portia often explains that women’s education is the answer to many challenges around the globe. She shares that Rwanda’s success story and Akilah’s track record prove this to be true. Certainly, there is ample scientific evidence to support this view as well.
For this reason, Portia is excited and confident about Akilah’s future. Here is Portia’s vision of Akilah’s potential future impact:
“ I am most excited to see the Akilah model spread to other countries and communities, possibly even to refugee camps. I think that the American college model is less than perfect, so we can learn from Akilah’s approach as well. Adding young men to the mix one day would also only help the fight for equality for women in Rwanda and around the world.”
Students at the Akilah Institute
If Akilah is able to continue to count on the support of truly inspirational individuals like Portia, our future looks bright indeed!
The Akilah Institute is Rwanda’s only women’s college. It was founded in 2010 with the goal of educating Africa’s future female leaders on how to solve the world’s most pressing challenges through a lens of opportunity and sustainability. Currently, 1,000 female leaders pursue studies in Information Systems, Hospitality Management, and Business Management and Entrepreneurship at Akilah. Graduates from the Akilah Institute usually find employment within 6 months (compared to an average job search period of five years for graduates in Africa), and on average earn 12x the annual median income.
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