Christopher Dowswell Scholarship Fund

Report to Global Giving (July 2015)

Once again, our 15 scholars have made solid progress towards earning their degrees. The highlight of last quarter was Maryam’s graduation. Maryam is the first of our scholars to have completed her BSc degree at Adamawa State University in Nigeria.

A thankful Maryam wrote to us:

I am a single parent with an elderly mother and six children. They all depend on my paltry income to cover all our household expenses, including the children’s school fees, family medical bills, rent, utilities, and my own tuition costs. Because of a lack of income two of my children had to drop out of school for one term because my mother was hospitalized for 3 months. Most of my salary went into saving her life. Thank God, she recovered. As I could not pay my rent for 2 months, my landlord threatened to evict me. I considered abandoning my studies so my children could continue their education uninterrupted. But my lecturers and colleagues intervened. They encouraged me to apply for the Dowswell scholarship. The scholarship boosted my confidence and morale. I remember so well receiving my first scholarship payment which coincided with my landlord’s eviction deadline. The scholarship has also given me the opportunity to interact with farmers and, the more I interacted with them, I realized they had so much experience and innovation which could be developed to assist other farmers. None of this would have been possible without the scholarship. So I wish to thank WINROCK/SAFE and their staff for granting me the scholarship. I hope to make the best use of the knowledge I have obtained. Long live WINROCK/SAFE and the Christopher Dowswell Scholarship Program.

The scholarship has launched a new application season and we expect the number of scholars to double during the next academic quarter.

• Dowswell Scholarship Fund (DOCX)