Samira Izidine

Samira Aly Izidine, was born on 20 January 1967 in Inhambane, a coastal town in the south of Mozambique.

She started her primary schooling in 1972, when she enrolled at the Inhambane Primary School. She started her secondary education at the Emília Daússe Secondary School in 1977, and thereafter enrolled in the Francisco Manyanga College in Maputo in 1981 for two years to complete her secondary studies. Her good grades allowed her to be selected by the Mozambican Ministry to attend a further two-year course at the Eduardo Mondlane University during 1984–85, where she furthered her studies of Portuguese. Samira soon realised that she had a greater aptitude for the sciences, rather than for languages, and changed from the Faculty of Education to the Faculty of Biology, graduating in Biology and Ecology in 1990.

In 1992, Samira was appointed as Assistant Curator at the LMA Herbarium and assumed responsibility for the section on Systematic Botany under the supervision of Mr Calane da Silva, Curator of the LMA Herbarium and Head of the Botany Department. During this time she reorganised certain collections at the herbarium and contributed to Mr da Silva’s work on updating Mozambique’s species list. Two years later she submitted her thesis “A comparison of the germination phenomena of certain varieties of the nhemba bean under laboratory and field conditions”. The study was undertaken under the supervision of the late Dr Naik, a phytopathologist of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Since then, her achievements have continued. In 1993, she drove a regional initiative to address institutional capacity building within the region. In 1994, she was involved in a UNEP-supported study on the biodiversity of Mozambique. In 1996, she took up the position as SABONET Research Officer of SABONET-Mozambique, and is also an alternate member of the SABONET Steering Committee. She has been responsible for technical and scientific databasing using PRECIS in Mozambique since 1997.

In 1998, Samira was given the responsibility of describing and editing the Cornaceae and Begoniaceae families for the Flora of Mozambique in collaboration with Dr Maria Adélia Diniz of the Instituto the Investigção Ciêntifica Tropical in Lisbon. She was also the National Coordinator for the Red Data List Programme for Mozambique.

Samira has participated in various SABONET activities, including Steering Committee meetings, courses, workshops, and the botanical expedition to the Nyika Plateau in Malawi. She has several regional and international publications to her name. She has shown herself to be a good team-player, always positive and cheerful.

Samira is married and has three children: Yuri, Márua, and Shakila. She enjoys reading, cooking, gymnastics, movies, and a good Sunday lunch with her family!

SABONET News 6.2: 72