Joyce’s Story

“I made a promise to myself to work very hard, so that I could get accepted into a [selective] national secondary school. So I worked hard during primary, and I was the only one from my school to be successful. I had the opportunity to attend one of Malawi’s best-known secondary schools.

My late mum was a brilliant lady. She used to tell me that it’s really important to work hard to get an education. She was very intelligent but due to the cost of school fees she was unable to finish school. When she was a girl there were no scholarships, no funding.  But now if you do well in school, then you can at least hope that someone might notice you and help you to actually achieve your dreams. She was the one motivating me and encouraging me to really work hard.

You know, women drop out of school because they can’t afford school fees. They can’t afford very basic needs. I know not every girl is brave like me. I accepted to continue school, even though I couldn’t have those things. I was like, okay, as long as I have fees, I think that will keep me going. Some girls end up dropping out of school, and then they get married at an early stage. In fact, the situation at home motivated me a lot. I wanted to pursue another way, help my siblings, get educated, get a job, or maybe have my own company. I’d be able to help not only my relatives, but also other people who were struggling like me.

I chose biomedical engineering because, looking at our country, most of the medical devices that we have in our hospitals are imported. If we have damaged equipment, it means you have to hire somebody from outside to come and repair it. This is too expensive for the hospitals, so things often stay broken and can’t be used. When I go to the hospital and see people lining up because there aren’t enough machines to treat them, I feel sad. We can do better as a country. I really wanted to be a part of the people who make machines or solutions to the health problems that we face.

The Rare Charity scholarship really changed my life, because I knew I had the chance to make it through university. When I lost my parents, it meant I had to struggle for my accommodation and food, before even thinking of fees. You don’t want to burden people, so I was just stressing – how am I gonna get through a five year course? The scholarship gave me an opportunity to have access to food and accommodation, my fees, and a laptop to do my assignments. Honestly, it was really the biggest thing in my life, and it changed everything. Despite having academic stress, I knew that I really didn’t have to worry about food anymore. I didn’t worry about where to sleep. So it really helped me.

I dream about having my own company, because I know we have few companies here in Malawi that design, produce, and do repairs for medical devices. I would like to have my own company so we don’t have to import anymore from other countries. If we can have a company that can make reliable and affordable medical devices, that will really help my country.”