St.  Lawrence  Girls Bursary and I

My name is Fanny Thindwa and I am a proud beneficiary of the St. Lawrence Girls Secondary School bursary.
Adolescent is the most critical part in any girls life especially those living in developing countries such as Malawi. At this age, the choices are not many to girls. You either concentrated on household chores in preparation for marriage or, if you are lucky, pursue education if sponsorship is available. By God’s grace, I was awarded the St. Lawrence girls bursary for my secondary education during this important period in my life. The scholarship and the education I obtained at St. Lawrence Girls Secondary School changed my life story.

In a nutshell, I owe the person I have become today to a number of factors, most importantly, my family and the education I obtained at St. Lawrence girls. I grew up with rich Christian values. I remember taking the first readings at church when I was only 11 years old. My mother challenged us that everything we had to do, we had to do to the best of our capability and had to put God first. I also remember, when I was going to start my secondary education, my mother laid her hands on me, blessed me and prayed for Gods guidance in my life.  By God’s grace, I was offered scholarship at St. Lawrence Girls Secondary. St. Lawrence provided both exceptionally good education, instilled Christian values in me, and embedded the values and a passion to empower young girls to become responsible women and citizen of the society. I still remember the school’s moto, “AD Muliers Dignitatem” which means “to promote the dignity of a woman”. I have been inspired by this moto to always strive to be a dignified woman, to work hard and to hold on to good values.

Today, I am proud to say that I have a master’s degree and post graduate diploma in Management from University of Witwatersrand (South Africa), a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from University of Cape Town (South Africa), and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Catholic University of Eastern Africa (Kenya). Currently I work for Action Aid South Africa as Consortium Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg. I am happily married to my loving husband, Rumbani Thindwa. All this has been possible with the push I received from my family and St. Lawrence Girls Secondary School. I am a living testimony that education is the key to success and it is my hope and believe that I will be able to help others just as the bursary has helped me.