African Humanists: Funding Travel and Navigating Visa Barriers
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Vocal.Media
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/10
Tauya Chinama is a Zimbabwean freethinker, educator, and advocate for human rights and cultural preserver. Trained in philosophy and theology, he transitioned from religious study to humanism, emphasizing intellectual honesty, dialogue, and heritage-based education. As a teacher of heritage studies, he works to integrate indigenous knowledge and languages into learning systems, arguing that language carries culture, history, and identity. Chinama is active in Zimbabwe’s humanist movement, contributing to interfaith dialogues, academic research, and public discourse on secularism, ethics, and education reform. He champions the preservation of Shona, Ndebele and other local languages while critiquing systemic barriers that weaken local language education.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Chinama examine persistent barriers for African humanists: financing travel and securing visas for global conferences. Jacobsen urges early tracking of World Humanist Congress and Humanists International grant windows. Chinama notes high costs, dependence on grants, and uneven representation, with hopes for events hosted in Africa. Visa systems create collateral damage, as strained diplomatic relations delay approvals and force costly applications in third world countries. Chinama advocates income generating projects and institutions to self fund participation, strengthen training, and amplify voices.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let us focus on financing for travel and visas for African humanists. Since I’ve been in the movement, this has been a consistent issue. It’s essential to keep the discussion alive so that each year it becomes a little easier, whether through increased financing or improved methods for navigating visa difficulties.
There are grants, such as travel grants to the World Humanist Congress or the Humanists International General Assembly, but they open quite early. So my first point: any African humanist or group wanting to send a delegate should look online and track when those applications open. What have been your experiences with funding challenges and visa challenges, and how have you seen them overcome?
Tauya Chinama: Sometimes, those of us from the Global South face significant obstacles. Travel becomes so expensive that we must rely on grants, which limit the influence we can have globally. In the future, we will have more opportunities, perhaps with the Humanist Congress or conferences being held in Africa.
This coming year, it will be in Canada. It may eventually reach Africa. A couple of years ago, it was in Singapore. Last year it was in Luxembourg. In the near future, it will be hosted on the African continent.
Another way we can overcome these challenges is by developing income-generating projects, allowing us to self-fund. Relying on grants is not sustainable, because there is no guarantee we will receive them.
For example, I doubt if the board of Humanists International currently has anyone from Southern Africa. I don’t think so. Yes, humanists are representing Africa—such as Dr. Leo Igwe and Roslyn—but both are from West Africa. We also need representation from Southern Africa and Eastern Africa.
It’s very rare to find humanists in North Africa because the region is predominantly Muslim. There may be a few among Shia Muslims, but openly identifying as a humanist is difficult. I have experienced this through my interactions with Iranians here in Zimbabwe, who usually invite me to interfaith dialogues. That’s one way we try to engage.
Sometimes we are fortunate. For example, in December of 2024, a number of African humanists were sponsored by the German Research Foundation to attend a conference on Decolonizing Secularity in South Africa, among those humanists were Michelle Nekesa from Kenya, myself from Zimbabwe, Wonderful Mkhutshe from Malawi, and Dr. Leo Igwe from Nigeria. We had the opportunity to sit together, hold a panel, and agree that we need to focus on training humanist leaders to develop strategies for financing their activities.
Jacobsen: How are visas handled in Africa when leaving the region for an international conference? Are they handled only at the national level, or is there a regional system in place?
Chinama: That is another challenge we face. We often suffer what I call “collateral damage.” If our country has poor relations with a Western country, visas may be delayed or denied. Sometimes, you receive the visa only after the conference has already taken place.
For example, if a conference is scheduled in the United States, Zimbabwe’s strained relationship with the U.S. makes the process nearly impossible. Currently, Zimbabweans cannot apply for U.S. visas directly in Zimbabwe; they must travel to South Africa to do so. That adds cost and time, and many individuals struggle to manage it.
I still need to check if it’s possible to get a visa here in Zimbabwe for Canada, but it might be easier because Canada has an embassy here. Unless they follow the United States’ example, the U.S. embassy here remains open, but it has suspended its visa applications. They closed it due to corruption: several people were issued diplomatic passports, including individuals who should not have received them, such as those outside the high-ranking security sector. That abuse has created collateral damage for everyone, even for our neighbours in South Africa.
South Africa once complained that they were receiving too many diplomats from Zimbabwe each day, and officials were misusing diplomatic passports. And when someone has a diplomatic passport, the receiving country is responsible for their security, which is costly. As humanists, we often suffer due to strained relations between governments or reckless policies regarding passports.
Jacobsen: Are there any internal humanist groups in African countries that can fund or subsidize travel for their delegates? Or is that unrealistic at this point?
Chinama: At the moment, we don’t have such groups in Africa. Humanists usually rely on their own resources. Whether it’s appearing in media, travelling, or engaging internationally, without outside support, we must do it ourselves. For example, this coming November 2025), I have been invited to Zambia for World Philosophy Day. While organizers said they might cover part of my expenses, I had to prepare to fund the trip myself.
So, it’s really about sacrifice. But African humanists don’t need endless grants. What we need is something like student funding or development funding—opportunities to buy land, establish schools, or create institutions that generate income while serving society. That way, we’re not always seen as complaining in the media but as active contributors, capable of funding our own participation in international conferences and sharing African perspectives.
Because what it means to be a humanist in Canada differs from what it means in Zimbabwe, Singapore, or Australia. Each context shapes humanism differently.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Tauya.
Chinama: Thank you.
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