Tuesday 20 December 2016

Positive story that brings back faith in humanity!

The incredible story of Judy Webb and Joyce Aruga!

The story began in November 2013 when the BBC World Service launched its first list of 100 inspiring and influential women around the world.

The BBC invited all the 100 Women of 2013 to a conference in London, which was where Judy met another name on the list - a Kenyan student called Joyce Aruga.

Joyce, who was 27 at the time and the youngest of 11 children. She was born into a poor family on the remote Mageta Island in Lake Victoria in 1986 - the same year Judy Webb took over running Rossholme School.

At the age of 14, Joyce was forced to become the third wife of a much older man, but - determined to get an education - she ran away from her husband.

With the help of a children's charity she got a place at secondary school, and funded her studies working as a maid.

By the time Joyce and Judy met in London, Joyce was one year into a teacher training degree at the Kenyan Methodist University in Nairobi - helped by a sponsor from a church in the United States.

"I couldn't believe that I, Joyce a village girl, was going to get on a plane and go to London," she remembers. "I had only seen [planes] in drawings. How will I board this thing that flies in the air?"

After the conference, Joyce spent the weekend in Somerset with Judy and her family. She told them about her dream of one day setting up her own school in Kenya.

Judy asked Joyce if she could make use of the uniforms left over from Rossholme school.

"She tried one on herself," Judy remembers. "She liked it so much wanted to wear it on the flight home!"

The women kept in touch over the years.

Judy received an email from Joyce showing a tiny group of tiny children, all proudly wearing Judy's blue and yellow school uniforms, and standing in front of the blue painted gates of their new school - the Rossholme Education Centre.

Joyce is starting small, with 10 pupils aged from 8 months to four years old.

"I found them by walking door to door, looking for kids who should have been in pre-school," she says. "When I asked their parents why they weren't in school, they said they couldn't afford the fees."

Joyce has been teaching her first class for free, but she's fundraising to expand, and hopes to be able to provide primary and secondary education for up to 100 disadvantaged children over the next two years.

"Because of the hardship I went through in life, I made a promise to myself that I would always help the poor and vulnerable," says Joyce. "I try to give some hope to those who have lost it."

Joyce says that taking part in the BBC's 100 Women series helped her expand her horizons.
"I learned there are challenges everywhere," she says. "It doesn't matter what we have gone through, we can still stand up and fight for our rights."

Back in Somerset, Judy has also started fundraising, hoping people who remember Rossholme Girls School, will be inspired to support the new Rossholme Education Centre in Nairobi.


'I'm very hopeful we will succeed,' says Judy. 'And if we do it will be something that was entirely brought together by 100 Women.'


Culled from bbc.co.uk. Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38335861

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