Scholar Alumni

Francis is no stranger to challenge. When his father died in 1987, he was forced to drop out of first grade for lack of money, but soon found work in the market selling fruit and firewood, allowing him to return to school. There were times when he had no shoes, little food, and even less money, but he always found a way to make it through. As his mother used to say, Francis has “no limits.”

Hajra finished sixth in her class on the first term exams in April. She lives a half hour walk from Ben Bella and thanks S4Si for including transportation costs in the stipend money so she doesn’t have to worry about whether or not she can afford to take the dala dala to school every day. She hopes someday to work in Zanzibar’s Ministry of Education.

Fatma was first in the Form Three class at Ben Bella Secondary School. Her grades were all A’s except for one B in Swahili. Both of her older brothers have gone off to college and her family is struggling to pay those fees. They are proud of Fatma for earning the S4Si scholarship to pay for her own secondary school costs.

Ghaya is able to fluently speak English, Hindi, and Swahili, and, at the time she was selected as an S4Si scholar, was working towards a reading proficiency in Arabic. Ghaya (pronounced Rye-ah) credits her ability to speak so many languages so well to a steady work ethic and a complete lack of bashfulness. She never misses an opportunity to practice her languages with teachers and visiting tourists. The eldest of three children, Ghaya attends the Sunni Madrasa School where her instructors marvel at her natural gifts and performance in the humanities.

Ramla was able to receive a scholarship from S4Si thanks in part to a donation from the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ramla was chosen based on her performance at Mombassa Commercial Secondary School, a business oriented institution in the suburbs of Stone Town. Ramla has seven brothers and sisters and two living parents – something exceptionally rare for students her age. The Haji family home is in one of the poorest districts of the capital city and divides its already cramped space with many extended family members.

Lulu did well placing tenth in her class on first term exams but says, “Don’t worry for this term, I promise you to do well in my exams because I’m in more preparation now.” Lulu is still enjoying biology and chemistry classes and wants to be a doctor.

Hawa is seventeen years old and the fifth of six children. The high scores she earned on national standardized tests in middle school allow Hawa to attend high school in the capital, despite the fact that she is from the countryside. She and her brother, who lives with her in Stone Town, receive little support from a mother who struggles to make ends meet. Her father is deceased. Hawa plans to study physics and mathematics in college with the hopes of becoming an electrical engineer.

Sharifa’s parents are both deceased and she lives in a hostel for students in Stonetown. Despite this, Sharifa does extraordinarily well in school and is using some of her S4Si money to pay for tutoring. She wants to continue her studies at the university level to become a chemist.