User:Silvia Joakimu

I was raised by a widow woman who gave everything to see me succeed in education and in life. This is my paternal grandmother. My parents separated when I was three years old and I was sent to live with my paternal grandmother. She was already too old to produce anything. It was common for us to go without food in a day. I remember the time when I would be sick and she couldn't afford to pay for my hospital bills. We struggled with almost everything. She would always tell me to study hard as education is the only hope I had. This was my motivation to concentrate and work hard. There were several occasions were I delayed to report to school because I had not paid school fees. She would be very happy all the time I came back with excellent academic results. At the age of sixteen my mother had died of TB. It was a mixed emotion moment. I had not seen her since I was three. My father too passed away three years ago. My good academic results enabled me to be selected to government schools for the senior/ advanced secondary school level. In my country, the tuition fee in government schools is much less than in private schools but the challenge is there were few government schools and the chances to be selected to those schools were very competitive. Luckily enough I graduated ordinary secondary school level with good results (First Division) therefore I managed to have admission to attend my advanced level secondary school studies to the one of the government special school for students with distinction performance. After graduating I got a loan from Government Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) which covered all expenses for the tuition fees, meals & accommodation, research, and intern. With that government support, I managed to complete my Bachelor degree in Statistics and graduated with an upper Second ( with honor ) degree. I have lived and experience the difficulties of life but I have also experienced the power of knowledge and education. I still hold my commitment to studying hard and work my way to higher academic levels. To me, education is everything. I believe with the expertise in population based research i will be able to dissect community problems and recommend proper measures.