When you meet 20 year old Stella Fombe you know this young woman is driven. She is small in stature but stands out in a group. It is not just her physical appearance, with long braided extensions and a bright pink fleece jacket that makes you stop and listen but her big smile, giggle and directness. Her English is not perfect but she is very clear on her purpose and aspirations. She tells you immediately what issues the girls are facing at school or in the villages offering a quick solution; to use Young Women’s Initiative funds (which she has been a part of) to purchase textbooks for the girls in boarding schools.
Stella has been an orphan since age 7, having lost her father while in nursery school and her mother during her first year in elementary. Since that time she and her only brother, Andrew age 17 have lived with relatives. Both children have been with MCM since 2008; providing their basic needs of nutrition, education, medical care and much needed emotional support. Stella says she went through “troubles” and struggled in school. Last year she worked diligently to pass exams. “I did it because I know who I am and without school I am nothing.”
Stella has a purpose. “In my plans, I can feel in my heart that I can go to college” to study agriculture and human science to someday become a doctor. She wants to be “a role model to my fellow learners that they should get something by seeing what I did and what I achieve in life.” Stella is clearly on the right path.