Educating Young Women

Last week we shared the stories of Pastor Joyce and Mama Chilewa at the Huruma Center Orphanage. With the development of a new day care center we learned that more and more young women in Iringa are going to school. This week we share the stories of some who have received scholarships through this companion synod relationship.

 

Together, companion congregations in Saint Paul and Iringa are making great strides in ensuring that the gift of education is shared equitably among our younger sisters and brothers.

 

As our offices wrap up the first round of payments for scholarship students in Iringa, BKB Scholarship Clerk Frank Mkocha reports that of the 974 students in Forms I-IV or waiting for their exam results, 498 (or 51%) of them are young women. When we include advanced level students in the search result, our records show 533 young women and 537 young men receiving scholarship support. Crunching the numbers, our support is split just about 50/50.

 

As a couple stories from recent recipients demonstrate, this is a gift that has already empowered young women across the diocese to become change makers in their homes and communities. There are women like Asia, who was sent by her Maasai community to complete six years of secondary school, who graduated first in her class, and is now pursuing a BA in education. There are girls like Elizabeth, a current secondary student and budding scientist who says she loves "science subjects like mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology." There are mothers like Consolata, who attended courses in tourism and office management and now runs her own curio shop and service-learning NGO.

 

If today's students follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, they will undoubtedly do a world of good too. In what they say and what they do, together with their brothers in Christ, these sisters bear witness to the renewal of life that is part of God's promise and God's mission. And this, too, is good news.