“I am 25 years old and have graduated from the teacher´s training College. I benefited from a scholarship granted by Plan. When I initially applied for the scholarship I did so at a time when I felt completely helpless about the future.
I lost my mother when I was 9. At 14, my father also died, leaving behind my two younger brothers and me. We then lived with our grandmother but she was not able to support us financially. The money we inherited from our father was used to pay for both our food and school fees. The money lasted for a few years, however then we had no income. I reached the second grade at the law school of the University of Ouagadougou. At the university students are given an allowance throughout their studies.
However if they fail, their allowance is withdrawn. This is what happened to me: in the second grade I fell ill with typhoid fever, which lasted for about 2 years. It lasted so long because I had to go on a food diet and also buy some medicines and I could not afford to buy what was necessary for the food diet, but had to eat what was there in the house. I could also not afford to undergo medical treatment. I had my bad and good days, but the illness plagued me for a long time, and it took me two years to make a full recovery. This is how I lost my allowance which was actually being used to feed our family. With nothing to survive on, one of my brothers started to do so some small jobs, in order to earn money and pay for his school fees. This was too much for me to bear. I then decided to stop the law course and look for a job. I sent an application for the teacher’s training course without even knowing how I was going to settle the fees. In the meantime, I heard that Plan was granting scholarships to disadvantaged girls and applied for that too. Luckily enough, I was granted the scholarship. It enabled me to cater for the training fees and other requirements”.