There is much to celebrate today – ourselves, the amazing women already in our lives, and those of the future.
On International Human Rights Day in December 2023, we announced new scholarships. Watipa is proud to build on our history, and steadfast commitment to enabling girl’s education. In 2024, we are supporting 10 inspiring young women in their education this year.
Over the coming months, we will introduce some of the scholars with you and their dreams for their future.
Today we will focus on Margaret, who is studying a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Women still remain under-represented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) globally, and we are thrilled to be able to support Margaret pursue her dreams.
“I am passionate about helping my fellow Malawians and my community from the economic disaster that we are currently in. I am pursuing a bachelor of science in Mathematical sciences, and I want to construct economics models and work based on its theories that will help to boost the economy of Malawi in the near future using the knowledge attained from my program.
As I’ve grown up in a small village in the North, I saw that some companies were interested in opening up an irrigation system to enable the farmers near the villages near the river to grow crops twice a year. But it failed due to high forces of water from the river that destroyed their irrigation system. The whole setup was carried away by running water; causing floods in the river banks and surrounding areas.
This happened about 8 years ago and farmers lost hope about irrigation in the area. But as rainy season ends, it is very had to get fresh vegetables in the area. So I opened up a small vegetable garden near one of the flooded deep holes filled with water so that I could water the vegetable. I got income from selling the vegetables and the people were happy that they got vegetables from a nearby and at a fair price. This encourages some young men in the area to open up their own gardens for tomatoes and vegetables, saying that if a girl did it, we can also do it.
“This encourages some young men in the area to open up their own gardens for tomatoes and vegetables, saying that if a girl did it, we can also do it. “
As of now people are still using the flooded areas with the idea of irrigation that I started to grow maize. This helps the people in the area to get the vegetables at a lower price and at the same time it provides a source of income to the individuals that produce the vegetables.
I was an encouraged and I just got selected to go to university. I used some of the money I got from my garden to get somethings that my parents could not afford to give me. I am a girl who was born and raised in the village by my grandmother… I see this scholarship as a great blessing to me as I want to achieve great things in life, but am unable to continue my studies due to financial constraints… That is why this scholarship will greatly help me to pursue my goals in life.”
We’re proud of you Margaret – all the best for your studies this year!