We met Julija Stankevičiūtė in autumn 2020. She was in her final school year and was participating in our educational competition "Africa is not a Country" for senior high school students, organized in partnership with Afri I Ko. Julija was one of the winners of the competition with a text on the situation of LGBTQ+ rights in South Africa, where the protection of human rights regardless of sexual orientation was enshrined in the constitution as early as 1996.

To expand the field of Africa-related issues in Lithuania, we traveled to Uganda together a year ago as a prize for this competition. Uganda is one of only three countries in the world that is home to mountain gorillas, one of the keystone species that sustain the ecosystem in these lands. Julija wrote a text on the relationship between the local people and the gorillas in Uganda, which is suffering from the effects of the climate crisis, entitled "Pažiūrėti gorilai į akis" ("To Look the Gorilla in the Eye").

Julija was awarded the Young Journalist Award for this text at the Romas Sakadolskis Journalism Forum. We are proud!