Worth the Walk: Maha's Story

Maha H. Kabia is from the village of Makondeh in the remote northern part of Sierra Leone and is 16 years old. She is the sixth of eight children in her family, raised by her mother alone who provides for her family by farming. As you might imagine, Maha and her family faced many difficulties - including not having three meals a day or basic toiletries. From such a background, attending EduNations’ schools without cost has been wonderful!

Maha’s first visit to the EduNations’ Hope Academy in Mapainda was to attend the celebration of the June 16th “Day of the African Child”. Just eight years-old, Maha saw that the school children were so very happy, so she decided to enroll the very next day. Walking three miles each way to and from school, she only had the uniforms and school supplies given to her by EduNations, and sometimes didn’t have lunch to eat. Right from the start, she knew that she would need great courage and perseverance to be educated. And fortitude and endurance are just what she showed over the years as she finished her Junior Secondary School in Mapainda and went on to the Senior Secondary School in Rokassa where after three full years of learning, she graduated last June.   

Graduation was indeed a great day for her life and family, because she was the first girl child ever in her family to graduate from high school, and so she is thankful to EduNations for igniting hope in her through education.

Now Maha aspires to attend the Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology to pursue a degree in Nursing at the Makeni campus. "I am very excited to go to college where I will be pursuing a B.Sc in Nursing degree because it is a dream come true. I am hoping that after my graduation I will use my education to save lives and also improve the standard of living for my family and community at least. Thank you EduNations for giving me hope!”