One Graduate at a Time...

My name is Joan Nanzala, and I grew up in a family of four children with my mom and stepdad. Life was not easy even when we had both parents. At times, we had single meals and were chased out of several houses because of failure to pay rent on time. At the age of four, my mother took me to a local community school so that I could at least be in school like other kids in our neighborhood. We had no desks in class, and we would sit on hand-made papyrus mats as we attended class. It was a low-cost school, but my mother could not afford to pay the fees; thus, I was always sent back home for school fees. It was a sorrowful story until God came through for me and fought my education battle by connecting me to Buyamba Outreach Ministries.

God was so good I joined God Cares Nursery and Primary School in Primary Two (P2). The school was so big and beautiful; it had excellent teachers. It was a dream come true for me. In 2013, I completed my national primary leaving examinations and then joined high school in 2014. In 2017, I completed my Ordinary Certificate of Education and wanted to pursue my dream of becoming a midwife.

Buyamba did not give up on me, even when my home background spoke otherwise; They held my hand throughout my nursing journey. In 2018, I was able to join a nursing school. Throughout my time with Buyamba, God blessed me with caring and wonderful sponsors who dearly loved me and treated me as their own. They always sent me letters, cards, and gifts for my birthdays, Easter, and Christmas. I always pray for and bless the Lord for my sponsor families, for they chose to light the path of a girl like me, whose future seemed hopeless.

​Despite the interference in my studies by the pandemic, I thank God that at the end of December 2021, I completed and graduated with a certificate in Nursing and Midwifery. Last year in 2022, God blessed me with a job, and I am now a practicing Midwife at a maternity clinic. I thank God for the opportunity to serve and give life and hope to another. May the Lord richly bless Buyamba Outreach Ministry in Uganda and the USA for being part of my success. God bless you all.