Courage. Determination. Perseverance.
Yesterday I was looking at a roster of the Africa ELI sponsored students. As I read their names, I thought of how extraordinary it is for them simply to be in school. I wondered what it must take for them to be able to fight against the odds and push beyond the barriers. That’s when those three words above came to my mind. That’s what it takes, I said to myself, courage, determination, and perseverance.
Then I recalled the story of one particular student, a young woman named Elizabeth.
Elizabeth is from a remote area of South Sudan. She is 20 years old, and is attending her final year of secondary school. Elizabeth has been one of Africa ELI’s sponsored students since 2014. In that time, not only has she managed to stay in school, but has brought her end-of-year grade up from C+ to A-, placing her among the top performing students at her school.
For Elizabeth to have come so far in her education is truly remarkable. Why is this? For one, it is because she is from South Sudan, where, according to the Brookings Institute, half of school-age children do not attend school, and two-thirds of those are girls. But that’s not all…
Not long ago, during the final term of her junior year, Elizabeth was forced to flee from her home, along with thousands of others, to escape the violence of South Sudan’s vicious civil war. At that point, it wasn’t just whether she could continue her education that was in question, but whether she could survive at all. Separated from her parents and eight siblings, Elizabeth made the dangerous and frightening journey to a refugee camp in Uganda.
Through this perilous time, Elizabeth held fast to her goal of completing her education. Africa ELI staff were able to locate her at the refugee camp and re-enroll her in a new school. Elizabeth was ready–with courage, determination, and perseverance–to keep pushing forward.
Elizabeth wants to continue her education post-secondary school. She plans to study science, biology, physics, and chemistry at university. Her dream is to become a nurse and bring much needed health care to her community.