Believe Club Alumnae On Their Way to Careers in Medicine
- GSGC
- Sep 20, 2018
- 3 min read
Feeling confident and supported by the lessons they learned and the network they wove at Believe Club, these four alumnae are raising a new voice in Zambian society. Each of these young women wants to be a doctor, and seven of their fellow alumnae are currently also at university. Eschewing traditional female roles, these women are pursuing higher education and professional careers—because now, they Believe in themselves.
Given Kawanga, 20, and her nursing school classmate, Elizabeth Lubinda, 19, both harbor dreams of being physicians—dreams that were nurtured by Auntie Gloria Mubita and the Believe Club in Livingstone, Zambia.
Both girls were born to teenage mothers. Elizabeth’s mother called her a burden. Given’s father took no responsibility for her for years. The girls shared an early interest in medicine, but both had academic, social and financial challenges that made them doubt themselves and their abilities.
Believe Club helped turn that around, and nursing school, they said, is simply a stepping stone, a foundation for medical school.
A friend persuaded Elizabeth to join the club in her last year of high school. “She felt I needed to be around people who would care, who would help me feel worthy, and who have the same problems I do, and I could heal with,” Elizabeth explained. “Meeting the girls and aunties really helped me find my self-worth.”
Makayita Masendeke, 20, followed her friend Given and joined Believe Club in the 11th grade. She saw how Given, who had been quiet and reserved, had become self-assured and cheerful.
“She inspired me,” Makayita said recently. “I lacked confidence, and she inspired me because she was confident. It’s helped me a lot.”
Makayita explained she’s also learned patience, and that careers don’t happen overnight, that you have to start somewhere and work for what you want. And that’s exactly what she’s done.
Makayita graduated from St. Mary’s Girls Academy in 2016, but her math grade held her back. Over several months, her widowed mother saved money for her to retake the math exam, and this time, she not only passed it, she earned a distinction. She has applied to pharmacy school in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, and expects to hear soon that she’s been accepted. Once in, she’ll apply for scholarships. Her ultimate goal: medical school.
The young women from Believe Club are defying the odds.
In Zambia:
8 percent of youths, boys and girls ages 15-24, complete high school
Less than 3 percent go on to higher education.
A whopping 34 percent do not complete primary education
Approximately 5 percent of 15-24 year olds have no formal education at all
Source: Ministry of General Education, Republic of Zambia
“This club gave me the confidence to rewrite my math exam. I was going to give up, just give up and get a job,” Makayita said. “But I rewrote, and I did well. I passed, and the same confidence made me apply to pharmacy school.”
Mirriam Sikaputa joined the club about four years ago to just spend time with her school friends. But her thinking expanded when Auntie Gloria started bringing in speakers to encourage the girls and arranged an educational tour in Lusaka.
“They took us to universities, colleges, and we talked to people who are doing well in life, and [we learned] they all started from scratch,” she said, noting she’d had doubts about where her abilities could take her and how quickly. “We were encouraged.”
Mirriam was accepted at the Livingstone Central Hospital Schools of Nursing and Midwifery, where Given and Elizabeth have also enrolled. Now 21, Mirriam also wants to be a physician—a goal she’s had since eighth grade when a doctor cured a skin infection that had gone untreated. “He cared for me without any concern for himself,” she said. “I thought, why should I not want to do the same [for someone else].”
Culturally, the four said, girls are limited to roles at home, while boys are given job opportunities. But Auntie Gloria encouraged them to work extra hard, to try for the same opportunities boys have. They described Auntie Gloria as a mother figure, someone to confide in and talk to about problems, and someone who lifts them up.
“Auntie Gloria transformed me,” Mirriam said. “If a boy can be a doctor, I can do it as well. I want to show society we are supposed to be put on the same level because we are equal.”
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