Meet a Young Ugandan Who Wants to Help Mothers by Training More Midwives
Her infectious smile says it all. 22 year old Aanyu Night Grace emerged the best student in her class at Matany School of Nursing and Midwifery in Napak District, Karamoja region.
Grace got five distinctions from all five of her papers, beating 31 other students and graduating with a certificate in midwifery. This is no menial achievement for Grace, who had lost all hope in life when her mother, her only living parent, died in 2010.
Born in 1995 in Ameritele village, Aakum Parish, Katakwi district, Grace is a first born child who at only 15 years of age had to assume responsibility of taking care of her four siblings after her mother’s death. She struggled to put food on the table for her siblings and also to enroll them in the nearby schools.
Before her death, Grace’s mother did odd jobs to feed her children while her uncle paid for Grace’s school fees at Railway Children’s Primary School in Soroti.
After primary school, her uncle couldn’t continue paying fees and Grace thought that was the end of her education journey. Her grandmother was so heartbroken that Grace was not going to secondary school that she sold her only asset, a cow, so Grace could join Jeressar School. Luckily for Grace, she was the best in first term exams and the school administration allowed her to study for free up to standard four, where she got 29 aggregates in her O-level exams.
Since there was no money for her to continue to high school, Grace decided to sell food in a small kiosk at the nearby trading center in her village. “I was at home for one year — the whole of 2013 — and was able to save some money, although it was still not enough for tuition,” Grace recalls.
When aneighbor told her about Matany School of Nursing and Midwifery, she decided to apply and was admitted. With her little savings from selling food, she closed the shop at the kiosk and set off for Karamoja to follow her dreams. The money she had could only cover tuition for one semester.
“When I arrived, I explained my plight to the principle of the school, Sister Natalia Moho, and told her that I wasn’t able to pay the fees,” Grace said, noting that she wanted the school administration to be aware of her financial challenges early enough.
As the semester was ending, Sister Natalia called Grace and other students with school fees problems and introduced them to the IntraHealth representative Christine Alura, who was part of a team that was visiting to supervise promotional exams. Grace was one of the students identified to get a sponsorship, so she signed a bonding agreement were she would be required to work in a hard-to-reach district for two years after her training.
“Although it was a 70% sponsorship, I was so relieved. I was now sure that I was going to complete my course. This helped me to concentrate on my studies instead of worrying about how I am going to pay the tuition.”
True to this resolve, Grace passed her final exams with flying colors and distinctions and was called back by the principle who offered her a teaching assistant job at the school. “I feel being a tutor is my calling because it is very interesting and it enables me share the knowledge I have. I will be helping mothers by training more midwives,” she says.
Although she is currently a midwife at St. Kizito Hospital in Matany, Grace hopes to be a midwife tutor someday after she upgrades and gets a diploma in midwifery. Grace is happy she is making a difference to the people around her: “I pay school fees for my four siblings and I am helping mothers deliver in the hospital.”
Grace is among the 805 students sponsored by the USAID-funded Strengthening Human Resources for Health Activity through IntraHealth International. 550 of these sponsored students have since graduated and some are already working in health facilities across the country particularly in hard-to-reach areas. The sponsorship program aims to increase the numbers of critical health worker cadres that are in short supply including midwives, doctors, public health nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technologists and anesthetic officers.
Dennis Ssesanga was a 2018–2019 fellow at Intrahealth International in Uganda.
Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.
