Tag Archives: Carolyn Edlebeck

Stella’s Story: Education for Transformation

Stella’s Story: Education for Transformation
Guest post by: Carolyn Edlebeck, AAH Volunteer Coordinator

Last week a bright-eyed seventeen year-old girl looked me in the eye and said:

“Teacher, I never knew that girls like me could study in schools like these.”

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As a young girl growing up in Eastern Uganda, Stella never imagined that she would have the opportunity to attend secondary school, most especially a secondary school in the capital city of Kampala. Stella grew up in a one room house on the sloping hills of Mt. Elgon. Throughout Stella’s childhood she attended primary school at the local school up the hill. The conditions at Stella’s school made it difficult for her to focus on her class work. Classrooms were over crowded, with at least 100 students per class. Learning materials were not enough and students spent all day without eating breakfast or lunch. Stella never received the personal attention from her teachers due to their over-demanding workload and daunting teaching situation. Due to these factors, Stella was never encouraged or challenged to think that she could do something more, become something more. To most, Stella was just another girl, another young face in the crowded class- destined to drop-out, marry early, and give birth at a young age.

However, this seemingly hopeless situation didn’t stop Stella. Stella continued to attend school daily. She was passionate about learning and strived to be among the best. She took advantage of any chance to learn and did not allow others’ low expectations to bring her down. Although she struggled with housework at night and was often exhausted from her long walk to school, daily fetching of water, and taking care of her younger siblings- Stella stayed up late to revise her notes by candle light. Stella knew that her only hope for a brighter future was through education.

Due to Stella’s high academic performance in primary school and her passion for learning, Stella was given a scholarship to attend a high-level, boarding school near Uganda’s capital, Kampala. This scholarship, through Arlington Academy of Hope’s Secondary Scholarship Program, has given Stella the opportunity to continue with her studies and achieve the future she had only dream of. This scholarship has opened the door for Stella and allowed her to study in a “school like this,” one which she had previously thought were not for “girls like her.”

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As I stared back at Stella and tried to conjure up a proper respond to her heartfelt comment I was overcome with emotion. How could a young girl of today not feel she was worthy to attend a decent school, to receive a proper education? How could I help Stella understand that SHE was the one who had worked for her opportunity and that she deserved the scholarship as much as anyone? How could I make her feel entitled to be THE FIRST girl to attend secondary school in her family? Honestly, no response could relay the emotions I felt. All I could do in that moment was to hug her and tell her how proud she should be of herself and how important it was for her to continue dreaming and aiming high. Her future was brighter than ever.

Stella’s comment made me realize the genuine impact Arlington’s scholarships and She’s the First are having on young girls throughout the world: a personal, life-changing impact. However, Stella’s childhood is not unique. Hundreds of thousands of girls in Uganda face the same daily challenges in school and at home as Stella faced. Support for these young girls is essential in order to enable them to lift themselves out of this reoccurring pattern of hopelessness and into a brighter future through education. It is only through higher education that these girls can choose and change their destiny to become what they have only dreamed of as possible. By giving girls, such as Stella, the opportunity to attend secondary school a new generation of girls will be empowered and it is this generation that will lead Uganda’s future.

[Editor's Note: Join us TONIGHT at the GIRLS WHO ROCK concert at Gramercy Theater in NYC to help us support the Arlington Academy of Hope!]