When the results for the high school exit examinations were published in May this year, there was immeasurable joy in the Moja Tu family. Our students posted excellent results, and Hildah was among the top performers with an A. For Hildah, this was a culmination of grit, hard work, and support from people who worked hard to see her succeed, including her sponsor and grandmother. Hildah remembers, “When my parents separated, I went to live with my grandmother, who did everything she could to take care of me. We always went to work on our neighbors’ farms to have enough money to put me through school.”
Hildah’s motivation has always been to make a better life for herself and her family. She had a firm belief that if she proved her abilities in school, she would find someone who would help support her through high school. Her prayers were answered in 2017, her final year in primary school, when she joined Moja Tu. A Moja Tu representative visited her school and having been one of the best performing students, Hildah was nominated for sponsorship. She met all the requirements; she was performing well, came from a poor background, and had a desire for education. Hildah welcomed the news, “Moja Tu was an answered prayer. The scholarship opportunity also gives credence to the saying that hard work pays. So, I joined high school with the same mentality. I knew that if I could do my best, the rest would align.”
Then Covid-19 struck, and students were sent home for an extended period with no end in sight. During the same period, another tragedy struck their family as Hildah explains, “Sadly, my grandmother passed away around the same time. I felt devastated; I had to relocate to live with my stepsiblings. I took time to adjust to the new environment.”
During the period she was out of school, Hildah did not have the opportunity to focus on her studies with all the disruptions that were taking place in her life. She was relieved when school reopened, and she returned with a resolve to put the pain of losing her grandmother behind and concentrate on school. She wanted nothing less than an A grade, which is exactly what she earned.
Ever since she was a little girl, Hildah has always wanted to pursue a degree in medicine, and she is glad that the dream is taking shape.“When I was younger, I said I wanted to be a doctor because I liked how doctors looked. But growing up, I watched as members of my community refused to accept modern medicine, with many of them trusting herbs from uneducated herbal men. The results were catastrophic, of course. Now it is my goal to become a doctor to teach people the need for and benefits of modern medicine.”