My Struggle To Receive an Education
It was 2010, and I was living with my parents in our village. One evening, my mother told my father, “Let’s take one of our children to school, so that she may help us when she finishes.” My father refused. He said, “I cannot take any of my children to school, because she will not bring me cows for dowry. If you want her to study, tell your parents to pay me my cows.”
But my mother did not give up. She called me and said, “Prepare your things. Tomorrow, I will take you to school.” On our way, she told me to work hard and be a good girl so that one day I could help my brothers and sisters.
When we arrived, we had no relatives to help us, only a friend of my mother’s. She welcomed us, and for five months I stayed in her home with her children. One day she took me with them to school. That is how my education began.
Life was not easy though. News came that my sister had passed away, and my father took me back to the village. For a year, I stayed away from school. In 2013, my father fell sick and after only six days, he passed away. His brothers took everything—our cows, our food, all he had left behind. All they left us with was hunger.
Then, my mother brought us to my uncle’s home. He took me to school again, along with his son, and later sent me to St. Bakhita Girls Primary School. But when I reached Primary 5, tragedy struck again. My uncle passed away. With his five children and us together, there was no one left to support us. We had to struggle, doing small business to buy food, while I prayed daily for the opportunity to continue school.
Staff update: In 2023, she received the support desperately needed and became an MBB Scholar. Today, she continues to ceaselessly pursue the education she knows will change her life. Her dream is to become a nurse and support one of the local villages.
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