Meet the Students: Aisha

“The best advice I can give to future Akilah students is to work hard and to do the right thing even if no one is watching.”

—Aisha Nakabanda, Hospitality Management, Class of 2015

My name is Aisha Nakabanda, and I was born in a family of eight children. I grew up in Uganda with my daddy because our mother died in the genocide. My daddy was rigid. He had a belief that there is no use educating a girl. My work was in the house, so only my brothers went to school. It was a family friend called Miss Mukasa who helped me start my schooling. Miss Mukasa used to tell me that I have to study because it was my right. She loved me a lot. She called the village council to come and talk to my father. At last he allowed me to go to school but he was not happy about being made to do so.

I was seven years old by the time I started school, so I was behind my classmates. I knew I was at a disadvantage, so I worked hard in order not to let Miss Mukasa down. The first term I placed 37th out of 97 students but the second term I was second in my class! After that, my father took an interest in my studies and started giving me all the materials I needed for class. That’s when I first realized that determination leads to success — my determination won my daddy’s heart and he started to care about my education. He paid my school fees until I graduated high school with Miss Mukasa’s help. I will never forget her.

I am not the Aisha that Akilah accepted in 2012. I am another person who knows her destiny and is ready to make a change in the world.

After I finished high school in 2007, there wasn’t money to pay for university. My daddy took me for computer training, where I got a certificate, but my dream was to get a college education. For years, I stayed at home, praying for a way to keep going.

People never know what God has in store for them. In January 2012, I came to Rwanda to visit my auntie. When I reached my auntie’s place, I found my cousin Rusine Mutoni studying at Akilah. At that time, Akilah was recruiting new students and she told me all about her classes, friends, and experiences there. I got my papers together and we started the process of applying. After several interviews, I was among the lucky ones who were accepted to study on scholarship at Akilah. It was a dream come true, and one that I prayed for over many years.

I went with Plan Rwanda to meet young schoolgirls in the Nyamata district and teach them about confidence, respect, resilience, and personal growth.

Before Akilah I was someone who lacked a sense of direction. I didn’t know about things like goals, values, and boundaries. I was timid and unsure of myself. All I had was my determination to stay in school. Now I know how to use my education to plan for things I can achieve. Akilah taught me to be proud of myself and to accept who I am. I can never forget what I learned in the emotional intelligence course because it is going to help me for the rest of my life. It’s my key to success. I am not the Aisha that Akilah accepted in 2012. I am another person who knows her destiny and is ready to make a change in the world. I have realized that you don’t have to be great to start but you can start to be great.

I have already started to be great because I’m using the knowledge and skills I got from Akilah to change things for other people. For Akilah’s Social Change Projects, we partner with Plan Rwanda, an NGO that works to eradicate poverty and help young girls to access education. I went with Plan Rwanda to meet young schoolgirls in the Nyamata district and teach them about confidence, respect, resilience, and personal growth. Because we Akilah students have so much in common with the girls Plan Rwanda works with, they understood us and were able to relate to us and make us their role models. That means I have already begun changing people’s lives because of Akilah.

The best advice I can give to future Akilah students is to work hard and to do the right thing even if no one is watching. They should always believe in taking chances and trying even if they fail, because as we say here, fortune favors the prepared mind.

If you wish to support an Akilah student like Aisha, please visit our donate page.