Today was the first day of a long three-day road trip. Today’s destination was a town called Hoima
where we toured a hostel for young girls ages 14-16. These girls are primarily from Northern
Uganda, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
We traveled here because we wanted to determine if this
organization might be a potential candidate pool for future Gretta
Scholars. We are interested in getting
to know our scholars earlier on and follow their progress through secondary
school.
We met 30 beautiful, bright girls. All have different stories and backgrounds
but all are here to live in an environment that supports their education and a
future beyond early marriage and motherhood.
We were entertained by a wonderful performance with song and
dance; songs filled with hope. Next was
a little like career day. We sat with the girls and introduced our work and why
we love nurses. We told them what marks
they would need in subjects like physics, math, biology and chemistry in order
to get into nursing school. Then we had
a Q&A and the girls asked so many intelligent questions. One had asked, “What is worse, low blood
pressure or high blood pressure?” A
Gretta Scholar in the making if you ask me.
Regrettably, many aren’t close to having the marks needed,
but, we hope that we planted a seed that if they worked hard over the next two
years and get better marks, that they have a chance for a bright future in
nursing. We only hope that a few of
those seeds will be cultivated. We’ll be
watching them.
Next we did what I love best, taking pictures of little ones
along the street, and then showing them their images. They are often shy at first, but when the
first child lights up with laughter at the sight of their face in a little
black box, the rest come running. It is
like witnessing joy at its purest.
Tomorrow we get up early for our long trip to Lira…so off to
bed, after a nice cold Bell Beer of course. (MS)
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