Dorothy Blog....Graduation Day!!

 

On 14th February 2014  myself and Evelyn were so excited to see off 3 Gretta Scholars as  they marched to the front to be awarded their degrees.  TGF is exceptionally proud of the graduating scholars namely: 

Immaculate Nassanga , Doreen Muyama and Prissy Kembabazi Dilly (Prissy). 

We join the scholars to thank the TGF USA for enabling them reach such a milestone which otherwise would not have been if there was no support.  Myself and Evelyn received lots of hugs from the families of the scholars!   

It was interesting to meet Doreen's Aunt . We had heard about her during the screening interview for the scholarship. Doreen's aunt is a midwife in Mbale and she was the primary care giver to Doreen.  Her aunt had such an influence on this Doreen such that all she wanted to be was a Nurse!  Well, she got her wish and now her Mum and Aunt are so proud!  When we asked Doreen why she wanted to be a Nurse she said that she wanted to be like her Aunt who was greatly respected in the community, because of her craft .  Doreen is a Nursing intern at Mbale Hospital. 

Immaculate is on the job hunt. We met with her aunt who has been her guardian. Her aunt asked us to say to TGF," Mwebale nyoo nze ani" which literary means, "Thank you ever so much... who am I to deserve this?"

We will update our readers when Immaculate gets employment.  She is keeping  her finger crossed because  she wants to work for Masaka hospital which is within her home district . 

 

We are so proud!  It takes a village to raise a child.  To make a Nurse, it takes TGF.

BTW, all the parents and guardians are dressed in the traditional clothing called " gomesi" 

 

Hello Dear TGF Supporters,

It occurred to us that it would be wonderful to share our work through words of one of our most trusted and beloved volunteers, Dorothy.  Dorothy has been working with us from our very beginnings. She’ll be doing a monthly blog sharing stories from on the ground.   We love Dorothy and we hope you love her.

*******

My name is Dorothy Nyaburu and I am a volunteer with The Gretta Foundation in Uganda.  I have been involved with TGF from 2008 and I work at International Health Sciences University in Kampala.

Along with my colleague, Evelyn, we source for deserving, vulnerable and qualified girls who have a passion for nursing with no means of seeing their dream to attend nursing school. We interview the girls, do reference checks with their former schools, crosscheck with the guardians and community leaders to authenticate the stories related to the individual girls situation. We will even travel very far if we hear that there are some deserving girls!

We hold a meeting to short list the girls, criteria being academic performance, passion for nursing, attitude exhibited during the interview process among other attributes.

We then ask the girls who fit in with the TGF ideal to write an application letter to TGF USA applying for the scholarship, stating in their application their school and family circumstances as accurately as possible.  We take a photo and scan it with the application and forward to TGF USA .At this stage we inform the girls that it is no guarantee that they will be awarded scholarship and that the ultimate decision to offer scholarship lies with TGF USA.

Once we get the go ahead from TGF we inform the successful applicants that they have been awarded a full scholarship with the Gretta Foundation. We issue the new scholars with contracts that spell out the terms and conditions of the scholarship. 

There is need to mentor and check on the new scholars regularly to see how they are getting on at the Gretta House. This is s because sometimes it is hard for them to adjust since most of them come from rural Uganda. More often than not they adjust by the next semester which means less spot checks. However, mentoring continues throughout the 4 year course so that the scholars do not waiver from the main objective which is to obtain a nursing degree. 

We tend to have a few hiccups and bends along the way with some of the scholars. We will even try to meet the scholar half way or even make adjustments where need be so long as at the end of the day, the scholar gets back to the main task at hand which is to become a Nurse. Some times scholars need time off from the course for one thing or another. We make sure that we stay in touch, and then during this period, we offer a different kind of mentoring so as to make it easy for them to get back in the fold and on wards with their course. 

 

We are lucky to be associated with TGF and the scholars. It is rewarding to see the scholars transform from shy nursing students to confident "Nurses". To see the change from naughty scholar to dignified, responsible Nurse is priceless! To know that by providing a scholarship to a girl child TGF  would have  helped to break the cycle of poverty for that particular scholar and that for evermore the scholar's life and that of her family will not be same, again!