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Your Giving Helped Her Keep Educational Goals in Sight
She can see clearly now, and not just because of the brand new spectacles Yordanos Hadgu purchased with the help of the 1000 Women Rising campaign.
They were essential, those new glasses, after Hadgu's only pair broke - or rather, they broke even further than before, having already been hanging on by a single ear piece.
"I have astigmatism, so it's very hard for me to stay in class without glasses, because the lights and the smart boards would give me migraines," explains Hadgu.
That's why a new pair was vital, because Hadgu wouldn't be able to finish her high-school upgrading without proper lenses to correct the distortion in her vision, a condition which commonly leads to severe migraine headaches. She'd been trying to get by with a very old pair, which if nothing else, helped the Eritrea-born Calgarian make friends in class, because her eyesight predicament was a conversation piece.
In her African homeland, completing Grade 12 only comes with national military service, so Hadgu decided to restart her education at Bow Valley College, and as rickety as they were, she was getting by with her old glasses.
But then disaster struck for the single mother of four, when she found the pair snapped and ruined: "I have a lot of children so I have no idea how they broke."
Struggling with bills already, Hadgu thought her schooling may have to be postponed, as well as her long-term plan to study nursing at university.
But the then 1000 Women Rising came to her rescue.
"I also had to get a checkup for my eyes and get a new prescription for glasses, as it was more than a year since my last checkup," recalls Hadgu. "So I got my new glasses, which I'm still using."
And Hadgu says the generosity of strangers struck her heart, while making her own future crystal clear. "I would thank them a thousand times if I could," she declares. "And it's not only getting the money and what you need, which for me was glasses, but it teaches me that in the future, when I'm in a good place, I must help others too." And in the meantime, Hadgu says she's loving school again, sans broken specs. "I love school and I really enjoy it it's a good place for me to be at Bow Valley College," she says.
"Everyday I come there I feel like I'm improving and changing my life, and changing my children's future."
They were essential, those new glasses, after Hadgu's only pair broke - or rather, they broke even further than before, having already been hanging on by a single ear piece.
"I have astigmatism, so it's very hard for me to stay in class without glasses, because the lights and the smart boards would give me migraines," explains Hadgu.
That's why a new pair was vital, because Hadgu wouldn't be able to finish her high-school upgrading without proper lenses to correct the distortion in her vision, a condition which commonly leads to severe migraine headaches. She'd been trying to get by with a very old pair, which if nothing else, helped the Eritrea-born Calgarian make friends in class, because her eyesight predicament was a conversation piece.
"I would like to thank [the donors to 1000 Women Rising] a thousand times if I could,""They were old, but I was still using them while the other arm was broken, so my classmates would laugh about them," chuckles Hadgu.
-Yordanos Hadgu
In her African homeland, completing Grade 12 only comes with national military service, so Hadgu decided to restart her education at Bow Valley College, and as rickety as they were, she was getting by with her old glasses.
But then disaster struck for the single mother of four, when she found the pair snapped and ruined: "I have a lot of children so I have no idea how they broke."
Struggling with bills already, Hadgu thought her schooling may have to be postponed, as well as her long-term plan to study nursing at university.
But the then 1000 Women Rising came to her rescue.
"I also had to get a checkup for my eyes and get a new prescription for glasses, as it was more than a year since my last checkup," recalls Hadgu. "So I got my new glasses, which I'm still using."
And Hadgu says the generosity of strangers struck her heart, while making her own future crystal clear. "I would thank them a thousand times if I could," she declares. "And it's not only getting the money and what you need, which for me was glasses, but it teaches me that in the future, when I'm in a good place, I must help others too." And in the meantime, Hadgu says she's loving school again, sans broken specs. "I love school and I really enjoy it it's a good place for me to be at Bow Valley College," she says.
"Everyday I come there I feel like I'm improving and changing my life, and changing my children's future."
