Cecelia Graduates in Nursing, against all the odds

October 4, 2019:

What an amazing young woman. A story of courage and determination against seemingly unsurmountable odds.

She wrote a nice version of story some time ago.

I am girl, 20 years old born on 6th November 1998 in a family of six children. At  first our father married a woman and had two children, a boy and a girl, and the woman  died. Then after he married my mother, my mother had two children with him, me and my young sister and she also died too, when I was 6years and my young sister was 4years. So we have been raised by our father only until I was selected to secondary school. He then married our step mother who has two kids now only boys who are 6 years and 3 years respectively.  
I did my secondary education at Karonga Community Day Secondary School. My father is a guard.  At secondary level we used to cook mandasi to supplement fees and buy exercise books because my father’s salary was not enough to buy basic needs for the family, pay water bills, buy school uniform and to pay school fees for me.  After my secondary school  I applied to St. Johns College of Nursing and Midwifery where  I  am now studying nursing. When I arrived in Mzuzu for interview, I had no money and nowhere to stay, but by a miracle I met John and Mary Coyne, they accepted me, gave me a job at firse and when I was accepted for nursing  they are the ones paying everything for me. On top of that they introduced me to Mama Rose who is the secretary of the organisation who is taking care of me, as her daughter. We had mid semester exams  and the results were as follows; basic sciences ; 78%, fundamentals of nursing; 68%, principles and practices of nursing;  76% and communication in nursing; 78%. We also had CHECK OFF where they test us if we are fit to go and practice to the hospital, I passed. Then I went for practicals at Mzuzu Central Hospital for 6 weeks where I was doing basic things like checking vital signs, doing bed making, doing dump dusting, doing pressure area care, and many other basic thing done in first year.  Then I came back to school and had  end of semester 1 exams . 
We had a Christmas holiday of two weeks.  I went to stay with Mama Rose where I spent the whole 2 weeks, she took care of me. We started second semester of first year. 6 weeks we had theory after that we had mid semester exams and CHECK OFF  I passed , and they located me to do my clinical practical in Karonga  for 3 month where I was doing medical nursing 4 weeks;( where I was caring for medically ill patients), surgical nursing 4 weeks; (where I was caring for patients going to be done different kinds of operation and also caring for patients  after operation) and under five clinic 4 weeks;  (where I was practicing how to care for  malnourished children,  giving health talk to carer givers on how to care for  their children and if they observe any danger signs they should come to the hospital. I also taught them  how to practice good hygiene, telling them the goodness of excessive breastfeeding and also weighing children, measuring height, checking for eodema   and giving supplementary feeds to children who are underweight and those who lucks some nutrients in their body and many other more. I come back to school and wrote end of year exams.
We had a 1 week holiday and started second year first semester, we had 9 weeks for learning theory and then after we had mid semester exams and CHECK OFF I passed and they allocated me at Mzimba North Health centre where I was doing Family Planning practical for 4 weeks ( I was  giving women and couples different family planning method to those who were seeking for them, giving health talks before they receive the chosen family planning method and also giving solutions to them if they meet any side effects of the given method and many other more. Then after they allocated me to Mzuzu Central Hospital where I was doing medical nursing 2 for 4 weeks (where I was caring for medically ill patient concentrating on the learnt  conditions; diabetes, hypertention, malaria, meningitis and other communicable and non communicable diseases) surgical nursing 2 ( where I was focussing on giving specific care on different patient who has different conditions need to be done operation) and also 4 weeks to do paediatric nursing ( caring for children less than 12 years  who has different kinds of medical conditions. Then I came back and had my end of semester exams and they gave us two weeks holiday. I went to stay with Mama Rose. Then I started my second semester, we had 9 weeks of learning theory and we had mid semester exams which I scored medical nursing; 71%, surgical nursing; 74%, psychiatric nursing; 74% and paediatric nursing 2;68%. We also had CHECK OFF, I passed and they allocated me at Rumphi District Hospital to practice for 2 month; 2 weeks I was in TB WARD caring for newly diagnosed patient, relapses cases and conducting follow up visit to TB patients. The other 2 weeks I was at ART clinic where I was testing patient for HIV, counselling them before testing, ways on how to prevent contracting and spreading the virus, if found positive, telling them the importance of starting ARVs earlier , giving then ARVs and how to take care for themselves to live longer. The last 4 weeks, I was caring for paediatrics patient. Then we went to Zomba Mental Hospital to do psychiatric nursing for 1 month where I was caring for mentally ill patient, chatting with patients to explore the factor that precipitate them to suffer for the mental illness, doing occupation therapy to facilitate healing. And then after I come back and had my end of year 2 exams where now am expected to start my third year on 2 July, 2018.
I wholeheartedly appreciate for the assistance Wells for Zoe give me so that I can continueand completemy education.  I promise to continue working very hard in my studies. I also appreciate Mama Rose and the entire family for the care and love they show towards me.
 Thanks very much

Cecillia Chiumia
Today the picture shows Cecelia with her amazing step-in parents who have loved her like their own and who fitted into their family of four making a family of five.
What an amazing story
What an amazing young woman, with her distinction.
She is an example to us all. She followed Alepha and next up is Martina.
All thanks to our amazing donors