Lily Asongfac, is a champion for space awareness and development in Cameroon. She has spearheaded numerous initiatives to bring space science to the forefront in her community, aiming to inspire and educate young people about the potential of space technology.
Lily’s journey from a young enthusiast to a space advocate exemplifies her dedication to leveraging space for social and technological progress in Cameroon. She works to create educational opportunities and foster a space-conscious culture among the youth.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
• Lily’s inspiration to pursue space education and advocacy.
• Her efforts in organizing space awareness programs in Cameroon.
• Challenges in promoting space science in a developing country.
• Visions the future of Cameroon’s participation in space.
• Projects and partnerships aimed at broadening Cameroonian space initiatives.
Quote:
“From, a Cameroonian perspective… I hear a lot of people ask me, why do you love space so much? Why do you even work in this industry? And why are you encouraging more young people to get involved when we have, bad growth, but we do not have electricity.”
Whatever background you have, so long as you have, you know, a passion or you love to be a part of this industry, you can make it happen. Space is one of the most diverse industries that exist. So literally space has space for everyone.
Hi. I am Lily Asongfac, and you are listening to 'Your Business in Space'.
I am the founder of the Youth for Sustainable Space Development Organization and the Aerospace Building Project.
These are space outreach initiatives through which we empower young Cameroonians and kids in primary schools to get them excited about space.
Growing up, I think when I was around 12 years old, there was a subject in class called general knowledge.
And during the general knowledge course, we learn about, famous people from around the world. And then one day, our teacher told us about the first man who landed on the moon being Neil Armstrong. And that was literally where it all started for me. I had so many questions.
I was like, wait. So people actually go to the moon? How does someone get to the moon? I kept on asking these questions around, went back home, kept on begging my grandmother, asking how does someone get to the moon? You know, how can I go to the moon?
But no one had answers because, it wasn't the Internet wasn't a thing at that time, and it's not like I'm that old. Right? In my local community, we did not have access to the Internet. There were no sidebar cafes or libraries where I could get a book and read more about these things.
So at some point, I just stopped asking these questions. Later on, fast forward to when I got to high school, I did sciences, and then I was preparing for uni. And when I got into the 1st year of, engineering school, well, I have a background in telecommunications engineering. So when I go to the 1st year of engineering school, we had a computer laboratory. We had, access to the Internet. I had a phone of my own. And then I remembered the questions that I used to ask about space, and I was like, oh, wow. I have Google now, and I can ask those questions.
And I hear Google has the answers for everything. So, I did a pre Google search, how does someone get to the moon? And then I learned about zoonocad. I learned about the whole field of aerospace, and it was so intrigued. And in that moment, I knew this is where I wanted to be. I was already reading for a degree in engineering and I was like, okay, this sounds like I'm already on the right track. I'm studying Telecommunications Engineering. How then do I fit myself in the space industry? Doing more research, I learned about satellite communication. I learned about nanosatellites, and I knew that I wanted to work on a CubeSat for my final year project.
So, that's that's a summary of how, you know, I went from clay shells to doing some research, and now I've been working and I've been a part of the space industry for the past 5 years. During my final year thesis, I knew that I absolutely wanted to work on a CubeSat project. I was so ambitious, to think that I could build a chipset by myself in 6 months. So, using the power of the Internet and LinkedIn in particular, I started reaching out to people who work in the space industry, and I was particularly looking for Cameroonians in the space industry because I knew they would understand, you know, where I'm coming from and these ambitions, basically. I came across, a certain doctor who worked at a South African University at that time. He's called doctor Ifriki. So I reached out to him, told him about, my ambitions, my newfound love for space, and all of that, and told him I wanted to build a CubeSat for my final year project. Oh, he coached me, he guided me through literally taught me how to design space nanosatellite.
aduating university in August:
f COVID, sometime in February:
They wanted to hear about my space journey, why I love space so much and all of that. And I had no idea that call was an interview. Right? It was 5 minutes.
first space event, in October:
By STEM, I mean, science, technology, engineering, mathematics people. So space is not all about, the geeky stuff, but there are also little bits that come together when the space industry is concerned. And I feel like a lot of people do not know about that. The moment the ES pays, they think, going to the moon, going to Mars, and, all that cool stuff, which would also sound a little bit boring to people who are not so passionate about space to begin with. To be successful in space, I believe, one has to, first of all, have genuine passion. I say this because it's easy to, to get all these eyes looking at you. Right? I'm saying this from, a Cameroonian perspective.
I hear a lot of people ask me, why do you love space so much? Why do you even work in this industry? And why are you encouraging more young people to get involved when we have, bad growth, but we do not have electricity.
We have all these problems. But I believe that, it's easy to feel discouraged if you keep having people ask you such questions and you're not necessarily passionate about the subject in itself, because passion then makes you do more research or even, onboard people to see the vision that you see. Looking at ad observation, for example. If we have people complaining about we do not have food, why are you talking in space? Then you make them to see how much at observation data can help to improve agriculture. You make them to see how ad observation is very important in even just monitoring, land, topography and all of that. So I would say to be successful in a space, you you first of all need to be passionate and you need to, be someone who is open to learning and open to sharing, you know, what they have learned. I think the best bit of advice I've given, about space is that anybody can break into the space sector. You know? You can come from whatever background, entertainment, medicine.
I mean, just name it. Whatever background you have, so long as you have, you know, a passion or you love to be a part of this industry, you can make it happen. Space is one of the most diverse industries that exist. So literally space has space for everyone.
To me personally, the most exciting thing about space is the fact that I come from, Spacefaring Nation, and I come from a contry that now sees and now is working towards, you know, having space as, one of the solutions to most of the challenges that we face.
Just seeing how other African countries are launching satellites of their own, seeing how ED observation and geospatial data is helping to improve agriculture within the continent, helping with disaster management and all of that. I feel like there is a lot of room for, human capacity building. There's a lot of, room for innovation around solutions that space can provide to us as a continent.
And the next 5, 10 years would be very exciting, and I think it's quite an interesting time to be African and to be in the space industry.
which is coming up in October:
And I believe opportunities like this help us to speak volumes, you know, to more young people traveling, you know, getting on the plane for their very first time for some, and meeting people from all the fancy space agencies working on great projects goes a very long way in inspiring them. So that's our short term goal, trying to get more Cameroonians attending events like this.
And we are looking forward to, having more hands on activities with the outreach that we do back home, with, children aged 4 to 17, bringing on board astronauts, having them talk to these children. You know, now with the power of Zoom, you can have anyone from anywhere talking to anyone, anywhere.
So, we're looking at bringing together people, who can inspire and who can mentor young Cameroonians, in the space sector.
I'm Lily Asongfaq. You've been listening to 'Your Business In Space'.
All the ways to connect with me are in the links in the show notes.
