Personal information
Name: Juliani Angelo Rwiza
Date of Birth: 07/04/1999
Country: Tanzania
Study: Clinical Medicine (diploma)
Why I need the iSTEPup Foundation
It would not be possible for me to achieve my dream without the help of iSTEPup. It would have been impossible. I am coming from a family of 5 were I am the third born. My family has no ability to pay me school fees. I don’t have anyone to help me. So I am very sure that without this great help, I would have had no choice but to drop out of college by now.
The other fact is that, College, especially medical colleges in TANZANIA are very expensive, , so I wouldn’t be able to pay my own fees. To facilitate
myself through College, I would need more than 2 years to save enough money to sustain myself through College.
Buddy
My name is Nathasja van Leeuwen, born in the Netherlands in 1992. Since I was a little girl, I told everyone I knew that I wanted to work in Africa. I did not know why, after all, I had never been there. But for some reason, I was convinced that I was meant to be there. When I grew older, I tried to figure out the best way to reach my goal. That’s when I decided to study medicine. Not just because I was interested in how the human body works, but also because I thought that I could make a difference in Africa being a doctor. So, in high school I chose the right subjects and after graduating I applied for university. Unfortunately, my application was refused. Therefore, I turned to my plan B; taking a Bachelor’s degree in medical biology and then switch to medicine. Luckily, I managed to succeed this time.
For my last medical internship I went to work in a small mission hospital in Tanzania for three months. Finally an opportunity to taste a little bit of the life of a tropical doctor! Within the first minute of setting foot in Tanzania, I fell in love with everything I could see. During this internship, I got to experience so many beautiful things, that I knew I had found my new home. There has not been a single day I wanted to go back to the Netherlands. Already during the internship, I applied for a job in the neighbouring hospital, St. Joseph Hospital in Kagondo. I went home to pick up my diploma and, finally a medical doctor, straight back to Tanzania to start my dream job.
During these three years I kept myself busy with many projects in the hospital. In order to improve patient care I collected money to buy a new portable ultrasound machine. And to increase safety and motivate staff I donated a solar system to make sure there is light 24 hours a day. I also managed to help with some hospital projects, run by the management itself. Such as repair of toilets, painting, et cetera. However, besides these projects inside the hospital, I also look for ways to help people in my environment. Together with my husband I started the Poor Patient Funds, which is a programm to help the poorest people get the right medical care, funded by donations. And we also look for children/adolescents who did not get a change to go to school or study. By various means we try to find a sponsor for them. So far we were able to help to high school boys (through private donations) and one nursing student (through I-STEP-UP).
My dream of becoming a doctor in Africa has been fulfilled. It is now time for new dreams. And one of these is possible with help of I-STEP-UP. Together we can improve healthcare in Tanzania!
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