The voting is open: In the last few days we received numerous applications for this year’s scholarship program Study Abroad with a child and now the jury has made a decision: Young people from all over the world have proved themselves as organizational talents as they have decided to study abroad despite having a child.
Along the lines of “diversity enriches the education infrastructure” it’s not about the best grades or the most demanding course – it’s about the desire to further your education with a child at your side, it’ about the courage to take this big step abroad and it comes to strength of personality.
If you are mastering this double burden in everyday life, you can not only be incredibly proud of yourself, but with a little luck you will be sponsored by MAWISTA with 3000 Euros!
Each of the candidates is extraordinary and courageous – after all studying abroad with a child is a great challenge. Nevertheless, the best candidates had to be selected and we are pleased to present them to you now!
The winner of the scholarship is determined using a public vote.
Would you like to participate in the vote and have a say in who wins our scholarship? Then you will gain an insight into the individual stories of the participants in the following.
We encourage you to read the excerpts of the applications carefully, as everyone can only cast one vote. All necessary information about the finalists are located at the bottom of this page.
Carolyn Mukiri Kambona
I am a very dedicated PhD female student with two children living with me. My project that investigates stress memory in plants require a lot of experiments both in field and in the laboratory.
This has been a very challenging task especially in the last almost two years during the Corona pandemic. With closure of kindergartens initially, and the later their on and off operations of, it has been very difficult for me to achieve my project goals as I would have wanted.
Importantly, though I could carry along my little daughter in my office to design the project and do write-ups, it was difficult to work in the laboratory with a kid. This has slowed the progress of my work. I believe I am qualifying for this grant, which I intend to arrange for care support for my girl and organize domestic help, to give me more time to quickly finish my PhD.
The experience of having to work with my daughter in my office was very demoralizing, especially holding her in an environment where she felt neglected. I carried toys and gave her papers and pencils and used the little time during when she concentrated on her games to give a push to my work. My daughter earned a title from colleges who refered to her as “the youngest visiting researcher“.
I like following a plan and achieving my goals in the most calm, peaceful and strategic manner, but being a parent with no additional help has been a 24hour chore that I have tried to balance with my PhD work. This grand would be a reliever, and the most deserved calmness during this phase of my career would not only yield a doctorate degree, but also prevent me from breaking down.
Christiane Kunze
Hello 🙂 I’m Christiane, 34 years old, mom of two boys (Ezekiel, 4 and Izaiah, 6 years) and a life-affirming woman. We come from Chemnitz and have created a spot of refuge here. After I accompanied my boys through therapies and successfully completed my outpatient psychotherapy, a difficult time in a sad family ended for us. We left a violent marriage behind. It took mountains of courage and a stubborn will of hope to soften boundaries that had been set for years. Fulfilling work and a carefree childhood were out of the question. Too often I had to protect my children and pick up broken pieces „at home“.
What is left of the past? The realization that nothing is more important than looking behind the facade. For a long time my boys were considered unpleasant, exhausting and meant to have behavioral problems. But before judging comes understanding. What made a person what he is today? Frighteningly, these roots often lie in childhood. So
I want to give other people what I have learned to give to my children after so much suffering. In 2021 I was allowed to start studying in which I will turn my heart’s desire into a profession: social pedagogy. As a socio-educational specialist, I want to accompany children in order to help them through life’s hurdles.
The question of which pedagogical concepts I can identify with should be answered by getting to know different cultures. We want to start our journey with the Maori in New Zealand. In addition to the fascinating concept of Te Whariki, the culture and the way of life that needs to be discovered, my boys should also have the opportunity to discover the world without fear and with a curious eye, thirsty for knowledge. For me, this opportunity is proof that even as a single mother, I have the strength to prepare my boys for a multifaceted life.
Kia Ora!
Christiane
Sana Munawar
Before coming to Germany for my PhD studies in environmental remote sensing, I was studying environmental science in my home country Pakistan. In between my university time, I was involved with international internships and volunteer work in an orphanage and animal care. After coming to Germany, I kept myself busy with PhD in publishing my research, teaching tasks, working as project assistant, volunteer engagement in a senior citizen care home, social integration and learning German language. In the meantime, I also got married in my home country, but I still had to live far away from my husband due to our work commitments.
When I found out I was expecting my first baby, I shared the happy news with my family, who are were 1000s of miles away. After the unpleasant pregnancy symptoms started, I struggled with managing daily life while living alone. But I kept going with the support of my supervisors, colleagues and family. I was preparing myself for the extremely challenging time where I would have to take care of my child for the most part alone while managing studies.
I have experience with babies as I largely looked after my nieces while my sister was working in the military, however being responsible for a tiny human is still the toughest job in life no matter how good you are at it.
The thought of finishing my PhD on time with a child and accommodating the added financial responsibility made me super nervous. I thought I am crazy to actually think I can do it. But I kept reminding myself that I got this far, so I will make it till the end.
Throughout my pregnancy, I arranged for everything in advance and made backup plans in case one thing fails. I gathered all my strength for any unfortunate situation and prepared how will I manage it for instance if no one from my family makes it in time for birth, but thank god they did. After having my child, my focus is to be very mindful of how I balance work and family. I want to enjoy every bit of motherhood and my PhD research with my sweet little daughter, trying my best not to make things too stressful for us. I have left many things to fate, but I also kept planning of how will I organize my routine with a child.
My options are limited visits from family from home country, home office, babysitter and day care. I am a kind of a person who doesn’t mind screaming kids while working.
Getting the scholarship from Mawista will surely ease off a huge mental pressure. Family means everything to me and that’s why I always wish for a world where mothers are especially supported so that they don’t have to choose between career and family. Having the support from Mawista will play a huge role in my financial management in a very crucial year of my life. A few years down the line, I look forward to tell my daughter we did it, despite all the odds.
I am so ever thankful to all the colleagues and friends who helped me in one of the hardest time of my life.
I thank Mawista for giving an opportunity to international students so that they can better focus on their studies and also care for their children.
Noureldin Mohamed
Hi, I’m Noureldin, I am a master’s degree student in Laser and Photonics, I got married during my degree after finishing more than half of my credit points and then I became a father. Because of this huge step in my life I had to take a step back from my masters degree and work full time to help provide and support my family.
Now after 3 years I have decided to go back and finish my degree as things were a bit more stable. In order for me to be able to do that I had to take a loan to still be able to support my family while studying and working part-time for 1 year, as I made a plan to finish all my credit points in 1 semester and write my thesis the following semester while working 30 hours per week instead of 40 hours, and I am now done with the first part of the plan and now have to focus on my thesis. Mawista scholarship would be huge support as it would help me a lot in the matter of being able to focus more on my thesis, by being able to reduce my working hours from 30 hours to 20 hours while writing my thesis without getting in to more debt.
Thank you for taking your time to review my application, and looking forward to your reply and towards finishing my degree.
Manessa Al Najjar
I’m Manessa Al Najjar a 23-year-old dentistry student in dnipro Ukraine, I’m a mother of the sweetest 3 years old son Edward. My journey started when i got married and travelled to Ukraine with my husband to pursue our passion in medicine.
I gave birth to my son in my first year of studies, although it was really very hard to study and take care of my son while having no one next to me, but i studied very hard to continue. The first obstacle that faced my way was the economic breakdown in Lebanon my home country, the people who were supporting me financially couldn’t any more because the banks stole the people’s money including ours. They refused to give us our money to continue our education even though we went to court, but nothing happened.
When we started overcoming the crisis in Lebanon, and getting used to our new country Ukraine where our child was born and is a citizen of, the war in Ukraine hit us hard, and forced us to leave our new home leaving everything behind, not to mention the depression the war caused us, seeing what’s happening in Ukraine was so devastating. Seeing the country we love being destructed, our home… We thank God we’re still alive, but after everything the sun rises and a new day comes, life goes on, and i have to finish my education since i just have couple of semesters ahead of me to graduate, and the university resumed and i am going back to Ukraine to continue my education in order to graduate despite all the risks, the life-threatening situation and the financial hardship.
The sad thing is that the university was very tough on us, and said that who ever doesn’t pay will be expelled, and the last semester i was suspended because i was late on my semester payment.
But still i won’t give up, although i have exhausted every option, I still have you, i am really in need of your help to make it.
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