Achol Andrew, 23, is a third year midwifery student at the Catholic Health Training Institute (CHTI) in Wau, South Sudan. Sister Joan visited with her last week and took this video:
Achol has has two brothers and five sisters. “Life back home has been difficult. Nobody is able to help me continue my education. My father is a secondary school teacher, but he is paid very little money, and sometimes he goes up to seven months without a salary. This sometimes meant that we would go three-four days with very little or no food at all. After seeing all the pain and trouble facing us, I really wanted to do something to help my family… I decided that the best solution was to find someone to make me pregnant and marry me, and maybe this way, through him I could help my family. I felt like a failure. Finally, I decided against it.”
“One day, a friend told me about CHTI, and so I applied, did the entry exam, passed, and was admitted to the institute. I did not know English well, so first I had to learn it for a year before I could join midwifery training.”
“There is a great difference in who I am now. One great change in me is that I am now very prayerful. Prayerfulness was encouraged by the fact that in the morning before we start a lesson, we pray. There is also a chapel in the compound, and we are free to go there when we need to. I put God ahead of everything I want to do. This has helped to open my mind to focus on my studies.”
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Story and photo by Nyokabi Kahura and Nicole Moran
