Alumni Spotlight: Linus Kramer '21

After graduating from Halcyon in 2021, I went to Amsterdam to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PP&E) at Vrije Universiteit, aiming for a career in finance. After one year, I decided the course and aspiration was not the direction I wanted to take in life. In hindsight, I can see that I lacked passion for the field. I also felt strongly that if I wasn’t studying, I should be doing something to help others. This decision to abandon a traditional career, embrace an unfamiliar challenge, and devote myself to helping others led me on a journey to find my purpose and passion in life.

This reckoning brought me to Tanzania. Whilst working on a charity project there, I fell in love with the country, and was determined to make a difference. One of my contacts and friends based in Tanzania, Katia, had already been doing charity work there for three years. We connected and decided to join forces to create meaningful change. With this newfound purpose and path in mind, I returned to London to work for six months and save enough money to return to Tanzania. 

Arriving back in Tanzania, Katia and I decided to channel our shared vision into action by establishing our own charity, Mizizi Ya Mafanikio, having witnessed large NGO's fail to understand the necessity of sustainable and community-led change in the face of unaddressed challenges. In short – we didn’t want to bear witness to these problems, we wanted to help solve them. Mizizi Ya Mafanikio champions two major programs: The Women Solidarity Program and Clean Water Initiative. 

Our Women's Solidarity Program came to be after hosting students from a local college who were unable to afford rent, growing into a fully operating hostel that covers basic needs whilst providing these young women with tuition funds. These efforts have enabled them to break into male dominated industries in Tanzania. So far this program has produced over 50 graduates, with a current enrolled cohort of 18 young women. 

Our Clean Water Initiative arose from our contacts with the Maasai, a pastoralist tribe in northern Tanzania. After connecting with the community, we asked them what issue most affected them –  a lack of clean water. This led us to research water filtration methods; in the process, we learned of a distinctive regional issue, fluoride, which larger NGOs and development agencies consistently failed to address. 

At lower levels, fluoride can be very good for the bones, however, we found the concentrations in the region to be quadruple the World Health Organisation (WHO) maximum, causing bone, organ and neurological damage in key stages of childhood development. This understanding led us to partner with Nanofilter, a Tanzanian company whose proprietary filtration technology has been accredited and celebrated by the UN, WHO and many others. Their filters now serve as the foundation of our Clean Water Initiative, currently operating across twelve separate locations, serving 4,000 people a day. 

Since founding Mizizi in 2023, I’ve continued to seek out new avenues for driving positive global change, spending three months learning Arabic and attempting to shoot a documentary on the history of Mahgrebi jews in Tunisia, and interning for two months at a responsible mineral trading company in Rwanda.

After gaining significant ‘real world’ experience, I made the decision to return to university, with the intention to become more efficient in spurring sustainable development in an East African Context. I am now studying Global Development and Africa and Black Diaspora at SOAS. These studies are only feasible through the knowledge and connections that I have gained from my work experiences.

Thinking back on my life since graduating from Halcyon, I am especially proud of the efforts I took to register Mizizi Ya Mafanikio as a recognised official UK charity. This process took countless hours of research, time spent understanding the complexities of UK charity law, 14 document drafts, and one failed attempt to make it happen. We also raised substantial funds for additional projects. 

I expect to be shuttling back and forth between London and Tanzania to put my education into practice in the field. Upon reflection, I was too immature to appreciate the opportunity of studying at 18, but four years later, it all made much more sense. I had no trouble finding motivation to work hard, knowing there were meaningful end goals in sight.

Upon reflection of my time since graduating from Halcyon, I now understand that a career in finance wouldn't have satisfied my desire for a deeper purpose in work. If I could share any advice to current students it would be that making career decisions can be very daunting and there might be pressure to decide during your time in school, but being open to change is necessary to find what really drives you. 

Students at Halcyon have the necessary resources to help make these decisions, as  Halcyon's small class sizes and international focus equips students, including myself, with a global mindset. My peers and those who attend Halcyon have the privilege of being able to freely explore and define our own futures, whatever they may be.