CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12
a job. I really needed a diploma. My
sister again offered to help me get
started in pursuing it. The amount of
money needed was a lot more and her
own bills were increasing. She had to
pay for college and support some of our
family needs. So, there was no guarantee she would pay about $1,200 within
half a year.Knowing that I may not
complete the diploma I debated whether
to even bother enrolling or take the
money and start a small business. Since
I had already worked had for five years
pursuing this diploma I decided to go
ahead with faith that God will complete
the remaining part. As anticipated, after
3 months my sister couldn't continue
paying the tuition. She was over As I
lowered my head, I heard "is Levy
Odera" here. My whole body was
trembling, my heart was beating so fast,
and I was unable to speakwhelmed by
her own bills and the ones she was
taking care of at home. I had two
choices: to end the pursuit for the
diploma
and try to
start a small
business
again or try to complete it then pay the
balance when I get money. None of the
two options was guaranteed to succeed.
Since I had invested too much, physically and emotionally, to get the elusive
diploma I decided to complete it. Every
day I had to find strength and hope to
take the journey to class. Fortunately, I
had a few friends in the college that
believed in me more than I did. On three
different occasions, some suggested that
I was certainly going to pursue further
studies in computer science in the U.S. I
always wondered what they saw in me
that I didn’t, especially when I was
struggling to get a simple diploma. I
sometimes liked the hope they gave me
but sometimes considered their utterances to be sarcastic, nay, annoying. I
trusted God for the strength to finish the
journey ahead. By His favor, I completed the three months and I now only
needed to survive 5 days of exams.
They seemed like 5 weeks when I found
IDEA DIAPORA 20
out that the administration was searching and sending away students that had
tuition balances. I was one of them and
they were a few of us; it was not going
to be hard to find us. I had some confidence that after surviving 6 months of
hide and seek, the struggle would not
end with a dismissal during the exams,
but I also had some doubts.
On the first day of my diploma exams I
was extremely doubtful that I would
take the exams but I made it into the
building and successfully took them. I
was now left with 4 days to finish this
torturous pursuit. Day 2 started on a
good note and my spirits were high. It
felt as if God was moving things in my
favor. But as I was happily doing the
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