Keep Zambian Girls in School and AIDS-Free

Gloria has had a difficult life. She has a daughter who is already 7 years old. Gloria’s father passed away at a young age and her mother had to go door-to-door to scrounge up what little money she could to feed her family. Her mother often did not have enough money to pay for school fees, which resulted in long periods of time where Gloria and her sister were out of school.

After giving birth, Gloria focused on finding employment to support her family and she did not think she could ever return to school. Unfortunately, she found little work--and none of what she found could pay her bills. Even many of the lowest level jobs required grade 9 results but Gloria had dropped out of school in grade 8. Thankfully a friend told her about programs for young mothers at the Lubuto Model Library.

Gloria completed a 3-month family literacy program at the Model Library, which taught her how to read and write. After completing this program, she joined the Lubuto mentoring program and received a scholarship to go back to school.

Now in grade 11, Gloria is looking forward to completing her secondary school studies and becoming a nurse. And we are committed to giving her all the tools she needs to graduate.

“I am not the only one who dropped out of school. We are so many…. My advice to my friends is don’t give up no matter what,” says Gloria.

Gloria has turned a corner and now has a bright future thanks to her drive, caring and nurturing library staff, and scholarship support from friends like you. Although Covid-19 has impacted schooling in Zambia significantly, the scholarship program continues to transform lives. 23 girls are now receiving secondary school scholarships and we will continue to support them through graduation!