How Africa’s Tomorrow helped me change my story into a meaningful experience - by Sioni Ayubu

My name is Sioni Ayubu Mollel. I am coming from Lendikinya village. I am from of a family of children. I have an older sister and two young brothers.I went to school in Lendikinya. I consider myself lucky to get accepted to the Orkeeswa School in my village.Orkeeswa School is a community based day school which is located in the rural area of northern Tanzania. The school has been part of my success in my education career. I went to Orkeeswa School from 6th grade to 12th grade.When I was in my 11th grade I wanted to look for support financially for my college education.One of my school councillors at Orkeeswa talked to me about Africa's Tomorrow and I agreed to apply and here I am today with the support of Africa’s Tomorrow.

I was really interested to apply for college support because I did not know how to pay for my education after Orkeeswa. After  my senior year of high school in Tanzania, I really wanted to gain more experience, meet new people, gaining intellectual stimulation both in class and outside class and so  I applied to do a postgraduate year to increase my chances of getting into college in the states.I applied to two schools and I was accepted into one of them(Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro,NH). While I was in Brewster, I applied to go to Franklin and Marshall college in Lancaster,Pennsylvania. I was accepted and that made the highlight of my life because I did not know what to do if I hadn’t been accepted in the college. After being accepted to college I had the second question which was how can I pay for the expenses on campus?.This question really bothered me and made me anxious so much. It reached a point where I was like I am going back to Tanzania. The opportunity that changed my life came to be the fact that Africa’s Tomorrow has given me a non-interest loan is useful to pay my tuition fee and to have money to spend while I am on campus. As a freshman and the newest member of the Africa’s Tomorrow, I feel so excited to be part of the amazing community which is full of support and encouragement for people to make the difference in their communities.  

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for not only the Africa’s Tomorrow community members but also for myself as an individual. Understanding that this is a privilege and not a right is the driving force for me to work hard to achieve my goals and most importantly to become one of the few role models for the younger generation of women in Tanzania. I can’t say thank you enough for all the Africa’s Tomorrow board members, donors, sponsors, host families and students for the amazing job you do to make our future bright. It truly means the world to us as women from Africa.