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A lesson about giving and sharing

Like any other 15-year-old girl, Idah Savala loves pink and she enjoys reading novels on her spare time. She also has to do chores at home and homework on her school days. So, what makes Idah so especial? This sweet and shy girl lives in the village of Misomali, in Malawi, a small and poor country in the southeast of Africa and she is currently attending to Phillips Exeter Academy Summer Session.
By: Isabella Ciuffetelli Alamo

I remember the first time I saw Idah. It was the Sunday we all arrived to Phillips Exeter Academy for the summer session. The day was bright, sunny and full of excited students who were marveling the campus with their ID badges hanging down their necks. I was entering my dorm and she was there on the ground floor, her tiny figure struggling to carry a big black heavy suitcase that was like four times her size.

She was wearing a long colorful skirt and a shiny blue sweater, large clothing that made her small features look even smaller. Her dark skin, bright black eyes, timid smile and shaven head made her just impossible to forget.

I smiled at her and she smiled back; then my dad came in. Loud and funny as always, he pointed that her suitcase was too big for her to carry, and she smiled shyly when my dad insisted on carrying it four floors up to her room.

It was the next day, on the first assembly, when I learned that she came from Africa. Mr. Shapiro, the summer session director, read a really touching letter she had written to thank the organization that had brought her here to Exeter on a full scholarship. It made me more curious about her, and after that, I wanted to get to know her better.

As time has passed, almost four weeks in what seems to be a lot less, Idah has told me a little more about her story. I would like to share this story with all of you readers, and I hope that you all find it as interesting and heartwarming as I did.

In the south region of Malawi there is a little village called Misomali. There, people only speak an African dialect called Chibawe and not many know how to read or write. Most of the people in the village are farmers who have small corn crops or a little cattle of cows and goats.

Idah lives there, at Misomali, in a two-roomed shack with five of her seven siblings and her mom. There is no electricity there, and therefore, no kitchen, bathroom or pipe system for water to get there. “We don’t really need those things, we are used to live without them”, Idah says about the lack of these public services.

In Misomali, Idah usually wakes up at 5:30 am to go to the corn crops and collect the harvest. “We grind the corn to make staple, which is the main food we eat there in Malawi”, Idah explained. Corn staple is a type of food that can be stored to use throughout the year, and it forms the basis of these people’s diet because it is high in calories and usually inexpensive.

“Corn staple is very hard to cook, only my mom, my older sister and me are able to make it. My younger sisters can’t, but they will eventually learn when they turn older”, said Idah excited and proud of her cooking skills. “I love cooking, it is my favorite chore to do at home”, she finally added with a wide and big smile.

Another chore Idah has to do is pump the water for the family’s basic needs and then take it home. She gets water at the bohos, community water pumps were the whole village lines up every morning to get water. In Malawi, one of the least developed countries of the world were half of the population is under the poverty line, only 57% of the rural population has access to these kind of pumps.

Idah attends to Providence Girls Secondary School, an all-girls government boarding school located an hour drive away from her village. Her school system works through trimesters, so she only spends three weeks at home and then she goes three months to boarding school until the next three-week break.

A typical school day, she explained, starts with an early wake up call at 3:30 am, the only time of the day in which the girls can get water to shower. After showering, Idah does homework and eats an early breakfast before classes start at 7:30 am.

Even though she enjoys reading and history, science and math are her favorite subjects. She finishes with her classes at 3:30 pm, and afterwards the girls play sports. “We play volleyball, netball and soccer. Netball is my favorite”, she stated. After sports, the girls go to dinner at 5:30 pm, and then they are forced to attend to evening prayer until 8:30pm. Idah doesn’t go to sleep until 10:30 pm, after she does a little of late study hours and homework. “At first it was hard, but then I got used to this tight schedule”.

Her full tuition is covered by the same organization that brought her here to Exeter, AGE (Advancement of Girls Education). AGE offers a scholarship fund to provide secondary education for girls in rural villages in Malawi who have successfully completed elementary school. The organization currently sponsors only 17 girls and pays for all of the scholars’ expenses.

Idah is the first girl AGE has ever sent abroad for a school program. She had never traveled outside Malawi, so she had to get a passport and VISA before coming here. “I had never taken a plane before. The experience was a little scary but exciting”, she explains about the trip she had to make in order to get to Exeter.

“Providence Secondary School in Malawi is very different from Exeter. My school is very small and little developed in technology. Infrastructures are very different too, I like them better here” Idah explained when she was asked to describe her school. “I like Exeter better as a school. I like my classes a lot even though they are a little hard and I sometimes need help with my homework”. Idah is taking Physics, Geometry and Exploring the American Culture.

It is because of her hard work and motivation that Idah has gone so far in her education. She attended to elementary school from where she graduated with honors, financed by the aid of an organization called Ambassador Girls Scholarship Program. She is the only one in her village who has attended to secondary school, from where she is about to graduate next year, a little time after turning sixteen. She has aspirations to get a college degree as a medical doctor in a future.

“The girls of my age already have children for whom they have to look after. It is not common in Malawi to attend to school. No one can afford it and they don’t consider it truly necessary”, Idah explained. “I have been very lucky, and I sometimes try to teach my brothers and sisters a little of what I learn in school, especially words in English. Having the privilege of receiving education makes me feel that I should share whatever I can with others”, she added further on. “That is actually one of the reasons of why I am so excited about Exeter, because when I get back home I will be able to teach my peers everything that I am learning here”

This same desire to help others is what has made Idah want to become a medical doctor. “At first I wanted to become a journalist, but Malawi needs more medical doctors. I want to get a medical degree, but it depends on if I can be given financial support”.

Idah has proved to be a competent student who was worked very hard to get were she is right now, but her most outstanding quality is her kind and honest spirit. She has taught me a lesson about how we must give and share even when it is very little what we have to offer. She is such a wonderful person, such a sweet girl and I cannot explain how happy I am that I got to meet her this summer. I am sure that she will find a way to make her dream come true and become a medical doctor, and, as a friend, I will try to help her accomplish this dream in any little way I can.

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