Empower women in Africa through higher education!

As Aline grew up, she struggled with her community’s treatment of women. She saw other young girls passing up education to start families and live traditional lives, but Aline knew she wanted more. As the fifth born of eight children, Aline fought to be a good example of leadership in her own household, both to her older sisters and younger brothers. Each day, she makes the choice to take risks and work hard rather than waiting for someone else to provide help.

Aline knows that a university education is not something everyone can obtain, so she wants to use this opportunity to give back to others. With a degree in Water and Environmental Engineering, her goal is to work towards using renewable energy sources that can serve her city and country. Aline’s eyes are open to the issues that surround her. With her degree, she will be equipped to overcome the problems she sees and lead those around her into a better future.

Last school year, Aline’s biggest challenge was Mathematics for Engineers. She said these classes were the most difficult, but she was able to work really hard, read a lot of books related to mathematics, find a tutor to help her and she was able to overcome the challenge and do well in her class! 

"I want to help people first and think about myself later. There are many traumatized people in my country and I feel it is my detiny to help them." - Esther

Esther’s family has experienced unthinkable trauma, which led to being raised by a single mother living with significant longterm illness. Esther is the middle daughter of three sisters. She is incredibly strong and amazingly resilient. Inspired by her mother’s strength and courage, together with the compassionate care provided by the doctors in her community, Esther will graduates this summer with a degree in Public Health. Her vision is to start her own community healthcare organization and empower youth in her community to go to school.

Everything Esther does encourages strength and self-confidence in others. Your support enabled and empowered Esther to create a powerful community impact project in which she counseled young women, showing them their full potential as strong, educated women. In 2017, Esther initiated a Debate Competition among our university scholars to encourage exceptional critical thinking and persuasive public speaking. This year, after graduation, she will be putting her education into practice by traveling to Rwanda’s rural communities to provide health education that equips and empowers people to manage the effects and care of non-communicable diseases.