More Than What’s Around You: Thubelihle Mkwalula’s Personal Journey Through MPACS

The Master of Peace and Conflict Studies (MPACS) program seeks to push students toward imagining and learning how to pursue justice and peace in the current times. However, MPACS is not just about teaching students about the best ways to identify and change the systems we see around us. It is also about encouraging them to understand their unique place within those systems.  

Thubelihle Mkwalula is in her second year of the MPACS program. She is originally from Eswatini and completed her undergraduate degree in global affairs in the United States. Following her undergrad, she applied directly to the MPACS program because she wanted to diversify her field of study. Speaking on this, she said “I enroled, and I didn’t have any references or anything... I was also hoping for something that could help me financially in terms of being funded and Conrad Grebel just had all of that, so it was perfect.”  

Initially, Thubelihle expected that the program would teach her how to help people, and exactly how to do this best. But, as she got further into her courses, this perspective shifted somewhat. “I learned through each and every class that I have to be better first. Before I can expect change from other people, I have to be changed first,” she noted.  

Thubelihle expanded on her feelings about how the MPACS program pushes students to recognise their own contributions to issues. She gave an example of how this impacted her own life, in which she would introduce herself as “Tay” since people often struggled to pronounce her full name. However, as she progressed through her courses, she realized how even this small act was diminishing her own identity in favour of assimilating. 

In addition to what Thubelihle learned from the classroom, she had the opportunity to complete an internship with the Community Justice Initiatives (CJI). The CJI is a non-profit that specializes in restorative justice and mediation services in the Waterloo region. She worked with the Open Homes program, a new initiative for the CJI that connects local Canadians with refugees who are coming into the country.  

Thubelihle credits this work for teaching her about the actual, on-the-ground, circumstances that, not only refugees, but Canadians as well, are facing. She noted that, “there’s a refugee housing crisis, and even just generally, there’s a housing crisis in Canada... I got to learn about how we bridge this gap, and how the organization is combatting that.” 

In addition to this internship opportunity, Thubelihle has been working with Dr. Reina Neufeldt as a Peace Scholar since she first came to Grebel in fall 2024. This position involves gathering information on current jobs, internships and career paths that are relevant to MPACS students. Then, they figure out which skills are most sought after. Going further beyond, Thubelihle completed a research project in which she laid out how to integrate those skills into the PACS and MPACS curriculums.   

Thubelihle has committed herself to engaging with everything that the MPACS program offers to grow both professionally and personally.  Speaking on what drives her, she told me about a Swati proverb, “A person is because others are.” Thubelihle points to this proverb as her motivation, that even in the current difficult climate, we can always come together and serve each other as best we can.  

After graduation, Thubelihle hopes to expand her work experience with nonprofit organizations, implementing the teachings of the MPACS program as well as her own personal journey. After her undergraduate degree, she only had one month before starting her graduate studies, so she hopes to be able to learn more about directly applying her skills while continuing to learn.  

By: Jules Gravestock