Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - Women who do not give up, who retain their dignity and pride despite a life of hardship and fatigue. Even in Africa there are women who make it, who study, engage in a profession and pay for the upkeep and education of their children.
Grace, a 42 year old nurse who collaborates Medici con Africa CUAMM in Uganda, at Naggalama hospital, has five of her own children and two adopted ones. She fled war in the north ten years ago to work in Kampala and then Naggalama. As a qualified nurse she earns about 70 Euro a month. She has never had a pay rise. She is dedicated to her work and to the patients and has become attached to the Hospital staff.
To make extra money she buys cheap recycled paper to make envelops for medicines and sells them to the hospital. She does this at the week-ends. She also has a vegetable plot where she grows her own tomatoes, beans and other greens. She goes from market to market to find the best prices.
She is helped by a group of CUAMM volunteers who pay part of the children’s school fees.
Grace lives alone with her children. Her own family was not well off, she is a self-made woman. She was fortunate to have the opportunity to train for a Diploma in Nursing and hopes one day to continue her studies. A devout Catholic, Grace know that miracles happen and she hopes for a miracle. In the meantime, her dreams in a drawer, she struggles and gets her children to school convinced of the importance of instruction. Grace is just one of many model working mothers in Africa today. (AP) (6/3/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:35 Parole:461)
