“This is just the beginning – I won’t rest until my community is fully developed in terms of education, health and empowerment.”
Prudence has recently started her second year of study in Public Administration at the University of Malawi, with the current semester focussing on different strands of psychology, “very important for a person who is into community work”.
That is something of an understatement – over the past year Prudence has shown her dedication to her community in many different ways including; training over 1500 women and girls to make reusable sanitary pads, fundraising for 40 school uniforms and 450 shoes, mentoring girls in 6 local secondary schools and supporting 20 girls back to school who had dropped out due to poverty or early marriage.
Prudence’s work has not gone unnoticed, she was nominated for a philanthropy award on international youth day and has appeared twice in the newspaper for her work promoting girl’s education. On top of this Prudence was recognised in her district as “following in the footsteps” of the female Chief Kachindamoto, responsible for ending around 300 child marriages in Dedza, Malawi.
Prudence says “Watipa came through for me at exactly the point when I needed help”, providing not just tuition fees but financial support that has enabled her to pay some accommodation fees and buy a laptop. There are still financial challenges but the support she has received from the Watipa scholarship has, for Prudence, “brought a year of positive transformation in my life and my family’s life”, she doubts if she could has continued studying without it.
Growing up without enough money to afford education motivated Prudence to “care so much about the welfare of other people”, something she has shown over this first year of her scholarship. She recognises her status as a role model and is “proud of the impact” she is making, hoping in the future to “motivate young girls to dream and grow up to be like me”.
We are sure many girls already are already inspired by Prudence. Watipa is proud to continue Prudence’s scholarship which supports her to have such a positive impact in her community and beyond.
Isaac Barry