children and education


ESTHER:


from refugee to neurosurgeon


“People used to tell me I can’t succeed in school because I have a mother who is illiterate. How can you succeed in school and your own mother cannot read?” says 17-year-old Esther. But with sheer determination,


refugee from South Sudan is proving everyone wrong.


Esther was 10 when she fled her home in South Sudan with her older sisters and her single mother. A harrowing week-long journey eventually brought them to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, where they found safety and shelter with their Uncle Chol and assistance from UNHCR.


“My mother values education and she


believed a good that enrolled them in school education


would help us have better lives,” says Esther, explaining


her mother immediately


after arrival. But life was far from easy and as her mother spiraled into depression, Esther used school as a way to escape and give her mother a reason to live; “My mother had given up and I was afraid that she did not


26 / UNHCR


have any hope left in life. Sometimes she would sit up all night and cry.”


As her grades improved, Esther was accepted into the Morneau Shepell Secondary School


for Girls, by Canadian the only


boarding school with modern facilities and solar lighting for girls in the camp (founded


firm Morneau Shepell). “Every


consulting girl


wants to make it to this school, so I consider myself very lucky to have this opportunity.”


Today she is thriving and hopes to become the first female neurosurgeon in South Sudan. “I know it will be tough but I love science and math and I believe in myself.”


“In my culture, people believe that


girls should stay at home and raise children. Girls are considered a source of wealth to the family. I want to break the record and prove that girls have a future.” Esther is also a library prefect and spends most of her time reading up on current affairs, finishing assignments or playing football on the school team. “I like football because it helps me to relax. It is a very popular sport in the camp,” she says.


Esther hopes to one-day return to South Sudan, a country she left as a young girl full of fear. “I would love to return as a successful citizen, ready to make a change. I want to be the girl that made it from the camp to campus and from a refugee to a neurosurgeon.” «


this young


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