As a result, the family’s financial instability made life for them really challenging, and difficult for Beverly’s mother to meet her family’s basic needs. To assist her mother, Beverly decided to drop out of school, and seek work in the community, to raise money for her family to use to survive. Due to her determination to receive an education, she would sometimes work several extra jobs, which involved working during the evenings, to earn enough to purchase what she needed for school. This is how Beverly was able to go back to school, but because of the hard labour that she would have needed to endure to be able to go to school, it often drained her and made her really tired, making her unable to fully concentrate on her studies.
After meeting Beverly’s teachers at her school, we found out that her academic ability was average, due to her missing numerous days of school at a time. She is a really hard worker, always cheerful, and she never allows her difficult situation to bring her down. Her teachers believe that with Catalyst Foundation’s support, she has the potential to greatly improve her academic ability, and be able to thrive in the classroom.
Through our holistic support provided to Beverly, we were able to remove all of her barriers, allowing her to now be able to consistently go to school and continue with her education, without need to work in the fields. We provided Beverly with new school uniforms, shoes, a school bag, stationery, textbooks, exercise books, sanitary wear and family food hampers. Her mother now has peace of mind, knowing that all of her needs are taken care of by the Catalyst Foundation, allowing her to be able to focus on supporting Beverly’s sibling, and other family members as best as she possibly can.
With Beverly now being at school full-time, and being unable to bring in an income for the family, her mother plans on starting a poultry project, where through the support of the Catalyst Foundation, she will be able to rear goats, and sell them to nearby villagers.
Read more about this project (linked to ‘Family Sustainable Project’ page.
Since joining the S.H.E Programme, Beverly has transformed into a confident individual, and is motivated to continue studying hard to complete her studies with flying colours. Once she finishes her secondary schooling, she has dreams of going to university to become a Teacher.
We asked Beverly to share with us in one sentence what the
Catalyst Foundation – S.H.E Programme means to her:
“Through the support from the Catalyst Foundation, I am able to go back to school, and be able to have the opportunity to become a Teacher assist my family when I am older.”