DR. JENNY

Jenny and her House Mum

“Jenny” grew up in a military camp. She has two brothers and one sister. Jenny is the oldest child. Her father was a soldier earning a monthly salary of NZ$40 (USD26). Because of their financial difficulties, her parents decided that they could no longer afford to send Jenny to school. Then her father heard about our home and decided to try to meet with the house parents in the hope that she might be able to continue with her studies. So she came to live at our girls’ home. At that time, she was entering 9th grade.                         

When she completed her 10th-grade national government exams – held for students throughout the nation, we were shocked at her results. We estimate that she placed in the top 30 for the whole country out of a pool of hundreds of thousands of students.

At age 16, she gained entry to study at a medical college. Unlike other poor children, she was not able to receive a scholarship because she had become a Christian. Instead, good friends of EMPOWER supported her for her six years of study. She has been a practising doctor for some years now. Of course, she is very busy, working every day and some nights at the hospital. Jenny says that she wants to open a private clinic for poor people.