This is one of African Girls Can’s students’ entries to the Girl Rising Storytelling Challenge for 2020. We are proud of Vivian for taking the plunge and entering this competition. Hers was among 1,500 submissions from 90 countries! Read the stories of the 15 finalists. We think ALL the youth who entered are winners.
Girl Rising said, “In the last few months, the COVID19 pandemic has revealed deep-seated racial, gender and economic inequities. The social impacts are being felt most deeply by people of color, women and girls who are already historically disadvantaged. At the same time, every day extraordinary people across the globe are courageously working towards equity, justice, and a better future. Now is an important time to listen and learn from each other.”
Realizing my Value as a Girl
My name is Acen Vivian Leah. I am Ugandan, age 18, and a finalist in Advance Level of secondary education. I would like to share my story of how the organization African Girls Can changed my life during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. I have been on the radio!
African Girls Can helps girls to achieve their goals in education through paying part of their school fees. I am one of their scholars at St Katherine Girls Secondary School in Lira.
During the last few months, COVID-19 has revealed deep-seated inequalities in gender and social groupings i.e. among youths, elders, students etc. As a youth and a student, I have been greatly affected by this situation. Students were to stay home for their safety. Nothing has ever happened which led to the closure of the schools and other sectors for this long. We have been home for six months, with no end in sight.
It is a stressful time. I faced challenges with life at home at the beginning with tiresome garden work and less contact with friends and relatives. It helped me to realize though how our parents struggle at home when we are at school.
Several ideas came up to open schools in shifts only for finalists, which brought a bit of relief to me, but later the idea was reviewed and seen as unworkable since students would risk their lives by not following the strategies laid to control the spread of the disease. I comforted myself and kept tuned to hear about the opening of schools. I am coping and still hope school will resume soon.
African Girls Can has contributed a lot to my well-being as a girl, a youth, and a student. They helped financially, academically, emotionally, and materially by providing food and scholastic materials to help me persist through the trial of the pandemic. They also organized radio talk shows and mentored me as I personally represented the organization as a scholar. It was my first time to present on the radio and I was afraid, but I gained the courage and it was my pleasure to be heard by the masses in the Lango sub-region. On the talk show, I shared topics of resilience (building strength after hardship) and how we can build our self-esteem by believing in ourselves. I believed my audience got something for the message I passed unto them since they called in appreciation.
In trying to explain this topic to my audience, I realized my value as a girl and the ways I can build high self-esteem, and I believe I can overcome hardships in my life. I feel I have a strong foundation built by the effort of this organization in my life which makes me a leader in my community.
