Gracious Student Profile: Agness
| Overcoming obstacles to obtain an education. |
Agness Frank is the 9th born child in the family of 9 siblings. She is 15 years old and resides with her mother and other siblings. Her father passed away while she was very young. Agness is in form one and very ambitious as she dreams of becoming a nurse after completing her studies. However she sees her dream being shattered due to the daily challenges she encounters.
Living in an extended family without any formal means of livelihood makes her school life very tough. None in the family works to bring the food on the table. They rely on finding casual works in different farms which sometimes are not available in the communities. ‘The largest amount of money my mother gets after casual works does not exceeds mwk15, 000 per month and this is what feeds our family. My other siblings help my mother to bring food to the table’~ Agness
Daily travel to school is just one of the daily challenges she needs to overcome. ‘Most of the times we do not eat at home. We just drink water and sleep and in the morning I travel a long distance to school without eating anything in the morning’~ Agness
She travels a distance of 9kilometers (6 miles) from her home to school and back every day!
She uses a battery torch for her evening studies. Sometimes she fails to study when the batteries are drained. To them the batteries are very expensive because every single Kwacha is very valuable to them. She sometimes lacks basic school supplies which are very crucial to achieve her dreams of becoming a nurse.
MCV supports Agness by providing tuition fees, lunch, uniform, and school materials. Once construction is complete on the girls dormitory, Agness will also have the opportunity to stay at the dorm over the week which will save her time, provide steady meals and study materials. -Vincent, MCV Deputy Director
To learn more about Gracious, other students, or the girls dorm, please visit our website.