Our Moon

I haven’t written a blog for a while, but this week has had two great reasons to celebrate – International Women’s Day and, in Zambia, International Youth Day. At Our Moon, we are very proud to be working with some amazing young women that fall within both categories, so I thought I would introduce you to one of them. Her name is Janet Botha. 

BACKGROUND

Janet comes from a family of five children. While her mother only completed secondary school, because of financial pressures within the family, her father was an educated man. He invested his money in establishing a small private school which prided itself in providing an excellent education at a low cost to its pupils. 

He passed away suddenly, a few years ago. This threw the family into turmoil. While money had never been plentiful, suddenly they had no income and life became hard. Janet realised that to fulfil her academic potential (she is one of Zambia’s brightest young women of her age), she knew she had to look for opportunities to help her gain a full scholarship to study at university, which is where Our Moon came in.

NOW STUDYING AT UNIVERSITY

Fast forward, and Janet is now studying Civil Engineering at University of Edinburgh with a full scholarship provided by MasterCard Foundation. 

“The opportunities outside the classroom, as much as the quality of education I am receiving, make Edinburgh such a great place to study. We are offered support academically and also through a reflection coach that ensure I am on track to do really well. I take part in extra-curricular activities and did some volunteering with a local family as a befriender and mentor to help build the resilience of their little girl. This also led me to join a social enterprise that aimed to reduce period poverty and the stigma around menstruation for women and girls in Kenya.

The experience I gained in my studies helped me to persuade a Zambian based consulting engineering company to take me on as an intern last summer when I returned home. This has given me a lot of relevant experience, not only to help me get a job when I eventually return home full time, but also to complement my studies.

OUR MOON’S ROLE

Our Moon has played a huge part in my journey so far and because I was actively looked after, I am where I am now. I am grateful that Our Moon invested in my potential and that I continue to be empowered through my education now”.

JANET WOWS THE AUDIENCE!

Janet recently attended our fundraising ball. During her speech, she won the audience over when she admitted to being quite nerdy: she loves spending her spare time watching construction videos! 

We wish Janet all the very best in her studies going forward and her future career. She is a great role model to Zambian youth and all the young people she comes into contact with. Here is a link to a video of her and Quincy being interviewed in a more relaxed setting.