Help Precious Get to Nursing School
Donation protected
Quick Edit Dec 22, 2023: Precious just turned 23 recently and just finished his first semester of his third year. Please see the most recent update for more details! But we hope you still enjoy our back story below :) Thanks!
Hi All,
My name is Mandy and I am fundraising for a Precious MacKenzie from Ruarwe, Malawi. I met Precious in Spring 2015 when I was volunteering as a teacher with Phunzira and Nyumba Ya Masambiro Community Center in Ruarwe. Precious was 14 years old at the time, and was a very bright, intelligent, kind boy, so when I started a memorial scholarship program for secondary students (high school students) I was happy to help sponsor Precious. Now at 20 years old, I'm happy to say that Precious has done me proud and has grown into a wonderful young man. He earned very high marks throughout his secondary school career, including course work and national exams, and was often the top of the class. He recently applied to multiple universities, including St. John the Baptists University and Catholic University of Malawi, and was accepted to both!! He was accepted to the BA program in Computer Science at St. Johns and the Nursing and Midwifery program at Catholic University. Ever since I've known Precious, he has wanted to work in medicine so he could help his community and fellow Malawians. Therefore, I am asking my community once more if you can help out one of these wonderful kids that I've worked with in Malawi during my visits!? My memorial scholarship only has enough money to finish up form 4/senior year for the few remaining students in my program. Luckily, Precious was just approved by the loans board on July 20th, however, loan support only begins in the second semester. Now that we know Precious is approved for loans, his family is frantically trying to raise funds for first semester. University loans also do not cover room and board. Therefore, Precious is looking for assistance with rent and food which is approximately 60,000 Malawian kwacha or more (or $75) a month. I've estimated this will be approximately $1,800- 2,000 USD for the entire program. Any remaining money can go towards transport and school supplies, or even helping out other students from Ruarwe in the future! Even the smallest amount of money can help and if you cannot donate that's totally ok too! But if you could share this post that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance to you all! Much love from me and Malawi - the warm heart of Africa <3 :)
FOR PHOTOS AND MORE DETAILS SEE BELOW!
Here is a photo of Precious, his teacher, and I at his secondary school during my last trip in 2017 when he started secondary school, and one with our friend/colleague Erik also has a scholarship program -
Here is a photo of his grades from the Malawi School Certificate of Education Examination (MSCE). Take note of his excellent marks!
Precious had to sit for an entrance exam and conduct an interview with Catholic University. Out of 162 applicants, 69 passed and Precious was one of them! Here is the list of accepted students (Precious circled in red)
Here is a photo of a letter that Precious wrote to another scholarship program that was unable to support him on such short notice
Here is a photo of Precious and his late grandfather, and his uncles and aunt below -
,
Here is Precious in his secondary school uniform -
And some additional links:
Catholic University of Malawi's website -
My GoFundMe page for my memorial scholarship. You can see more updates and photos of Precious and other students there (I'm also still accepting donations to continue that project!) -
The non-profit, grassroots project Phunzira that I volunteered with in 2015 and 2017. Learn more about them and Nyumba Ya Masambiro Community Center here -
Lastly, my friend/colleague Erik's scholarship program with which I have collaborated with as well -
Thank you, Tawonga (Thank you in Tumbuka, the language spoken in Ruarwe), and Zikomo (Thank you in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi)!!!
Organiser
Mandy McCarthy
Organiser
Northampton, MA