Hi, my name's James, from Ghana, and a student at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) studying MSc. Global Health (Part Time). I am also a senior nursing officer working in the Renal Dialysis Unit as a dialysis nurse. I want to tell you how a scholarship resurrect my dreams.
In July 2013, I graduated from the University of Ghana with a BSc Nursing Degree (First Class Honors). Among the various courses I studied, I developed great interest in public health. For this reason, I have organised and participated in many health promotion activities such as health education and healthcare outreaches. I have given health education to several associations, churches, and individuals. In addition, I have organised many free medical outreaches for the less privileged in Ghana, including medical outreach to the Nsawam Medium Security prisons that took care of 1408 and 750 inmates and officers in 2016 and 2020 respectively. To gain more knowledge and experience in public health, I joined the Ghana public health Association in 2016. In 2017 and 2019, I and contested and won the elections to become the National Public Relation Officer and National Organiser respectively for Ghana Public Health Association.
This passion for public health motivated me to further my education in Public Health.
Between 2015 and 2021, I have applied to more than 20 institutions of higher education in different countries and gained admission in six of them. Unfortunately for me, I could not start any of these programs because I couldn’t afford to pay the tuition fees and other expenses associated with the admissions.
Throughout these years, I was unsuccessful in securing financial assistance, through scholarships, after applying to several institutions and individuals both home and abroad.
Those years were very difficult times for me.
I almost gave up on my dream of furthering my education until I met a friend from LSTM who introduced me to the MSc Global Health (Part time) program and the scholarship opportunities available.
Although I was unsuccessful in my first application in 2020, in 2021 I applied again, and this time round I was successful. I gained admission and more importantly for me I won the Global Health Future Leaders scholarship. This means everything to me, and I am eternally grateful to the funders for believing in me.
The Global Health Future Leaders scholarship has indeed resurrected my dream of becoming a professor in global health which was almost diminished due to my inability to pay for the previous admissions.
Scholarships are very important for many promising young people like me living in lower and middle-income countries who cannot afford to self-finance their education. I have friends who have given up on their dreams because of financial difficulties.
Scholarships can help so many young people, like me, to pursue their dreams and make a difference to communities across the world.