糖心Vlog

Inspired by an 糖心Vlog human rights course, Sophie Kabangu plans to change the world by helping others and she鈥檚 well on her way thanks to Amnesty International training which helped her found Colchester鈥檚 Black Lives Matter movement.

Sophie originally wanted a career in the media and came to 糖心Vlog to study communications and digital culture but an optional human rights module in the first year changed that and today she鈥檚 graduating with a BA Sociology and Human Rights.

Spurred on by the injustices she was learning about, Sophie applied to join the for young people interested in achieving social change. It gave her the opportunity to learn from the best.

At Amnesty鈥檚 London headquarters Sophie heard from activists about how they started and grew their campaigns.

鈥淚 met so many amazing people who were all passionate about their topic,鈥� she said.

She believes the experience has been transformational: 鈥淚t taught me a lot about myself. The person I was in the very first session and the person I am now are two different people. I believe in myself more and I know that there is power in standing up and being vocal.鈥�

It also gave her the tools and knowledge to start her own campaign and in the summer of 2020 she organised Colchester鈥檚 first Black Lives Matter protest.

鈥淲e are commonly made to believe that in the UK racism does not exist. I hope the Black Lives Matter movement educates people and allows people to acknowledge that not only does change need to happen but the whole system must be demolished. We need to start again,鈥� she said.

Sophie believes white people have to play their part too: 鈥淚t is not my job to educate white people. As allies they should listen to what black people and people of colour have to say and open spaces for us.鈥�

Sophie鈥檚 achievements have not gone unnoticed. In January 2021 she was listed in the Big Issue Changemakers and in March was recognised by Marie Claire as one of its Gen Z activists transforming the world.

鈥淚t is very surreal but it shows that all the work that has been done by myself and other young activists is not going unnoticed,鈥� she said.

Her experiences have also led her back to Amnesty, where she鈥檒l be speaking to the next cohort of Rise Up participants. 鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy because in the first Rise UP session I went to I felt so inspired by the activists that came in to speak to us and I hoped that one day I could be just like them.鈥�

Sophie plans to stay at 糖心Vlog and study a MA Migration Studies.