This is the third blog-post from Nicolin Mamuya, the first ESOMAR Foundation scholarship in South Africa.
08 July, 2016
I am in Tanzania right now and I must say the weather is perfect. Not too hot and not cold at all. This is our winter. I’m living in a small village called Kibaha with my aunt Rosina, the woman who took it upon herself to care for my mother. I was never really close my aunt Rosina but my mother’s condition has brought us closer. She owns two primary schools named Treasure Day Care. In 2015 she was voted the best teacher in her district. She mentioned how she never really thought of building a school after retirement however; she was so admired for her intellect by her community that they actually contributed to building her school. In other words, the community decided that she would have a school.
My mom on the other hand is improving. She has already started walking with a walking stick. The doctor is working on mobilising her left arm. Being there, I try my best to help her exercise the side affected. The process is definitely not easy. She experiences a lot of pain but she understands that the journey to recovery will not be simple. On the bright side, one thing my mom could not stop asking about was the ESOMAR Scholarship I was awarded with. She is so happy and I could tell that she was at ease because she knew everything on my side was going well and I wouldn’t struggle next year.
12 July, 2016
Yesterday we went to visit my grandmother; she also suffered a stroke in 2015. She’s also on her journey to recovery. I am glad she’s still the same old strict grandmother I know her to be. It really feels good to be surrounded by family even though they still treat me like a baby-_-
There is not much to do here besides care for my mom. I offered to assist my aunt Rosina with teaching the school children English but she already had a full staff. Apparently, most of the Unique Women aren’t exactly doing anything back is South Africa. No one is saying anything which means no progress is being made. I am officially starting to get frustrated. Luckily however, one of our members, Trish, visited her previous high school to speak about the Unique Women, our purpose and what we aim to achieve. She also encouraged the pupils to never give up on their goals by emphasising the famous quote “Success is not final and failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts”. I am so proud of her! I can’t wait to go back so we can actually commence with doing more to build our organisation.
20th July 2016
My mother always reminds me that I am the only one she really has and that I should continuously work hard in school so that I am able to take care of her. I’d be lying if I said I did not feel the pressure to do well. I feel it from my mom, the rest of my family and the organisations sponsoring me. I mean, you pray for blessings and when God grants them, the responsibility to maintain those falls on you. I remain truly grateful regardless.
The scholarship awarded to Nicolin was sponsored by SSI and in collaboration with SAMRA.
If you want to support the ESOMAR Foundation and people like Nicolin in having the opportunity to study and pursuing a career in market research…participate the to ESOMAR Foundation charity prize draw today!