Life Story Abigail Banda

Abigail Banda

My name is Abigail Jones Banda, second born in a family of five children; three boys and two girls. I was born on 3rd January 2001. My father is a pastor and my mother is a house wife and as a family we depend mainly on subsistence farming. As a pastor my father used to receive €10 per month from the church. With this type of income life has been very tough for us. My father could not afford to pay school fees for us all, therefore we were mostly out of school. My father mostly did home schooling for us and would then ask for a favour from the school so that we could just go to sit for the examinations. In 2014, I wrote Primary School Leaving Examinations and passed and got selected to a community day secondary school.

In addition to the struggle my family was undergoing, I developed a health complication; a boil developed on the upper arm and another one below the knee that also puzzled the doctors. The economic pressure was too high in our family. My father’s income was too little to support my secondary school education and I ended up staying at home for three years. By the grace of God, ReachOut Education Support Foundation came to my rescue. ReachOut enabled me to go back to school. As I am talking now, I am the only one at school and the rest of my siblings dropped out of school completely because my father cannot afford to pay for their school fees. My younger sister just got married. From 2017 I attended a very good Boarding School fully paid for courtesy of ReachOut. In 2018, I wrote my school certificate examinations and passed. Now I am at Malawi Assemblies of God University (MAGU) pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration programme, fully supported by ReachOut. Additionally, ReachOut is facilitating medical care to improve my health condition so that I can excel in my studies. I am glad that my health is better than it was before and I can focus better in my studies.

I am very grateful to ReachOut for all the support academically and health-wise. Now I see light at the end of the tunnel because I shall be able to stand on my own, help my immediate family and play an active role in my country. Without ReachOut’s support, I could not be in the university now. All I can say for now is MUCH THANKS to ReachOut; you are like an evergreen tree bearing good fruit throughout all seasons.