YuSU student from Zambia presented a project at the All-Russian Women's Forum

The All-Russian Women's Forum "Women: Preserving Traditions - Developing Russia" was held in Moscow. One of the forum participants was a third-year student of the Higher School of Ecology of YuSU, Mervis Marriam Phiri from Zambia. She presented her project on mentoring international female students.

The forum became a meeting place for women from various professions who shared their experience and successes, discussed current problems and ways to solve them, and presented their projects in the fields of health care, education, science, industry, ecology, social sphere, and others. The event took place on the venue of the international forum-exhibition "Russia" at VDNH.

"As you know, adapting to a new place, new people, new weather, new food, new norms and traditions can be very difficult. No matter where you are, your ideas can help. Your stories can inspire someone who is trying to make a decision about where to study, or who is just hesitant to go to Russia to study. Your stories of how you passed the selection process, learnt Russian and finally came to Russia can inspire so many girls," Mervis told about the idea of the project. Its goal is to create a community of girls to help newcomers adapt to the new culture, language and climate, as well as support and help each other with various issues. Now the student has a community on Telegram. You can join the community by clicking the link.

At the forum, Mervis spoke about her experience of studying and living in Russia, what difficulties she faced and how she managed to overcome them, and expressed her willingness to share her knowledge with other girls through her project.

"The forum was very interesting, I met and socialised with different wonderful women, which was a dream come true for me. The forum participants liked my project, they supported me and that is really motivating. To be honest, I was nervous. Natalia Komarova, the Governor of Yugra, said that she would find a way to help my project. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to tell the head of the region and other wonderful women about my project and the Africans in Yugra community," the project author shared her impressions.

Adelina Yovik, a resident of the YuSU Entrepreneurship Laboratory, also presented her project "Creation of a Smart Neighbourhood Centre". The project was approved by the guests of honour, the representative office of our region in Moscow and other partners were also interested in it. Negotiations are currently in progress.

We congratulate Mervis and Adelina and wish them success!