Cissy Kinaawa Ayebi
Key Profile Information:
Background:
Human Rights Officer for the United Nations, HIV/AIDS Advisor for the PSO
Placement:
Fellow Clinical Trial Office at Boston Medical Center
Fellow Statement:
“We have so many skilled immigrants here [in the US]. You often hear people say, ‘I have no time. I can’t do anything’…So I wanted to get into this fellowship and show these people that yes, you are a professional with professional experience. You can penetrate the workforce.”
Click HERE to learn more about the Fellowship
Cissy Kinaawa Ayebi has dedicated her life to helping others. As a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations, she conducted training on HIV/AIDS in Darfur. As an HIV/AIDS Advisor for the PSO, she implemented policies on preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. And when Cissy relocated to the US from Uganda as a refugee, she served as a Safeguarding Advisor who trained her colleagues on issues related to sexual assault.
Most recently, Cissy served as a fellow for the Boston Immigrant Professionals Fellowship from September to December 2022. In this role, she trained at Boston Medical Center to become a project coordinator in the healthcare field. She sees the fellowship as an important step toward her dream position: a career in public health. “HIV/AIDS devastated my country and family,” Cissy explains. “That’s why I want to get into public health. That’s where my passion comes from.”
As a 2022 fellow, Cissy worked closely with her supervisor and team to learn about project coordination and research administration. “It’s a lot of learning,” she describes. “There are so many trainings.” However, Cissy explains that the highlight of her fellowship experience has been working with the people in her department. At every step of her fellowship, they helped her feel comfortable and supported in her role. She furthers, “I don’t have words to describe how grateful I am. I don’t take [this fellowship] for granted.”
When asked why Cissy applied for the Boston Immigrant Professionals Fellowship, she says that she wanted to gain entry into the US workforce and receive more exposure to jobs and businesses that can help her develop her career. She also wanted to inspire other immigrant professionals to not give up on their dreams. Cissy concludes, “We have so many skilled immigrants here [in the US]. You often hear people say, ‘I have no time. I can’t do anything’…So I wanted to get into this fellowship and show these people that yes, you are a professional with professional experience. You can penetrate the workforce.”
