jane's story

Jane is one of 10 children. Her father is 67 years old, and works at the school to get money for school costs. The family is very poor. They often go to bed hungry. They get water from a borehole down a very steep slope. Despite being sent home many times for inability to pay fees, Jane still did better than many better-off girls. She wants to be in the top three in her class.

Jane’s mother was sick with diabetes, and they had to choose between paying her hospital discharge fee and paying Jane’s fee to enter Form 1 of secondary school. They paid the hospital fee, and Jane thought she would never get a secondary education. Then the local MP (congressman) sponsored her to go to Form 1.

The whole family, including 90-year-old grandmother Hannah, is very proud of her. When Jane grows up, she wants to be a surgeon “to rescue other people’s lives.”