Why would I give to the Forever Dollars Scholarship fund? What do the dollars I give do? How does my gift affect the lives of others? Questions like these are ways we evaluate requests that we contribute our resources to any cause. The following thank you from one recipient of this year’s awards answers those questions in a way few of us are able.
I would like to extend my sincere thank you to the Delta Mu Delta Scholarship Committee for awarding me the Past Presidents’ scholarship. You cannot imagine how much I appreciate this scholarship. I would like to share a story with you.
In 2000, my three brothers and I left South Sudan amidst 22 years of civil war there and took refuge in Uganda. At that time, I was 12 years old. We left the country without our parents, so we were considered unaccompanied minors by the United Nations. We built our grass thatched house and stayed there suffering and starving without hope.
When I performed well in primary school in the year 2002, the UN office in Uganda offered me a scholarship to a secondary school in Northern Uganda. I studied there from 2003 to 2006 and performed well in that school even after going through a lot!
In 2006, our scholarship with United Nations ended and peace was looming in south Sudan in 2005. In December 2006, I went to see my Dad whom I did not see for 11 years because we were separated by the war’s frontline. From December 2006 to October 2008, I stayed there without going to school because my father could not afford to pay for my education.
In 2008, I got a scholarship to go to a United World College in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This scholarship opened for me the opportunities to come and study in the United States where I am now studying at Methodist University.
But why do I write you all this in a thank you message? I am not like many other students. My parents have not seen the institutions that impact my life because they cannot afford to come and see where I have been to school. I live a reverse life. Instead of my parents sending money to support me in school, they actually need money from me to help them and to pay for the children in school at home in South Sudan. I would like to assure you that your scholarship not only positively impacts me but it also impacts three children in South Sudan, Robert Lokosang, Emmanuel and Nelson, whom I am helping financially every semester so that they can to go to school. These are children of my elder brother. He is not educated and does not have any means to pay for the children’s school. I don’t know what they will become when they grow up educated but I see something bright in their future.
You can imagine how much I appreciate your scholarship award. Like everyone else, I have a big love for young children and I would like to see each and every child succeed when given the opportunity. That is why I am investing in Robert Lokosang, Emmanuel and Nelson. Your scholarship has a big impact in my life and in the lives of others for whom I struggle everyday to help go to school in South Sudan.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Nyoma Clement Nickonora
Methodist University