Steven (Tuti) Mukum, a John Lewis Young Leaders fellow and student set to graduate Swarthmore College next year, has received the prestigious Diana Award, which celebrates and empowers students who are creating positive change around the world. Established in the memory of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, the program is rooted in her belief that young people have the power to change the world.

Mukum, an economics and international development major from Cameroon, says it was “surreal” to hear he had received the recognition, since he had not applied for it but rather was nominated by community leaders in response to his efforts stemming from his project “Growing Food, Growing Communities, and Growing Hope (G3) for Peace.” He began that project in his first year at Swarthmore, after receiving the Davis Project for Peace grant through the Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility. He created an agriculture and rehabilitation program to support displaced persons in Cameroon.

Through the John Lewis Young Leaders fellowship, Mukum has continued to bring awareness to these efforts by creating a multimedia storytelling initiative to amplify the voices of the people displaced by the sociopolitical crisis in Cameroon. “Being a part of this community myself makes it especially thrilling to share their stories and experiences,” he says. Being the first Swarthmore student to receive the fellowship and the only international student in his cohort, Mukum shared that “being the only international student in this year’s Lewis fellowship makes [it] particularly meaningful, as I particularly respect the late Congressman John Lewis’ fight for equality.”

Read the original article about Steven Mukum from Swarthmore here. View Mukum’s profile here and learn more about RFK Human Rights’ John Lewis Young Leaders fellowship here.