Rwandan native, Sherrie Silver, who has earned fame in Dance Choreography, expressed how the challenging times she experienced in her youth that inspired her to dream of helping those with fewer resources.
Time magazine wrote that this young woman began her charitable works at the age of nine, following the loss of her cousin who died of Malaria, in an effort to honor him.
With her mother’s help, she started selling cakes in the City of London to raise money to buy mosquito nets for people.
She said, “The cakes were bad, to be honest, and the money it cost me to make them was more than what I earned, but it was then I realized that with the little I had, I could do a lot.”
Now 29, this young woman believes that everyone can help others in their own way, a philosophy that plays a large role in her life and career. Sherrie Silver is now an ambassador for Malaria No More, an organization aimed at fighting Malaria.
Sherrie Silver says her childhood life inspired her to immerse herself in charitable works. She was born in Rwanda in 1994 and shortly afterwards, her father was killed in the Tutsi Genocide.
In 1999, she and her mother moved to England where Silver developed talents including dancing, acting, and singing. She mentioned that she learned dancing for free.
She said, “My mother didn’t have much money, but we didn’t have to worry about paying for dance school. Now I want to believe that I can also give young children the same opportunities.”
She founded the “Sherrie Silver Foundation” to support talented individuals, returning the kindness she received when she was taught to dance for free, and which has now become a profession that made her famous. Everyone involved in this foundation is not charged.
She added, “These young kids are talented; all they lack are resources, encouragement, and support.”
In 2018, she became the first African to win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography, thanks to the dance routine she created for Childish Gambino’s song “This Is America”.
The video for this song also won the Best Music Video award at the Grammys. That same year, Bill Gates acknowledged her as an innovator bringing changes to the present and future of Africa.
In 2019, she was appointed as an Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and traveled to countries including Cameroon, Ghana, and Rwanda to discuss with the youth how they could lift themselves out of poverty.
Since that year, she has committed to raising twin girls whose mother passed away shortly after their birth. The girls, named Precious and Sapphire, are now under her care, and she recently met President Kagame with them.
Currently, Sherrie Silver and others including actress Danai Gurira, Ashley Judd, Kennedy Odede, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Fred Swaniker are expected in Kigali.
They are among those who will receive TIME100 awards at the inaugural ‘TIME100 Summit and Impact Awards Africa’, recognizing exceptional achievements on the African continent.
This event, set to take place for the first time on the African continent at the Kigali Convention Centre on November 17, 2023, follows a partnership between the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and TIME magazine, known for its list of the world’s most influential people.
