Positivity generates positivity and, thus, the commitment undertaken by Never Alone has also inspired other friends of the College who decided to support two further scholarships for unaccompanied minors. These were awarded to two other successful candidates having passed the UWC selections dedicated to unaccompanied minors in Italy for which the Never Alone project had offered a scholarship. Indeed, it is thanks to the fundraising efforts and determination of the Italian UWC National Committee that Abdullah and David have been able to attend UWC Adriatic this year alongside Ibrahim from Sierra Leone.
Abdullah comes from Gambia. Very good in mathematics, physics and drawing, he is a very sensitive and thoughtful boy. He carries with him the burden of the distance from his home and community, where he has left a difficult family situation, but he is also fully aware of the opportunities that have opened up for him thanks to the education he is receiving at Adriatic. Since the college has had to close its residences owing to the covid-19 pandemic, Abdullah has been given a warm welcome by the family of one of his college friends in Catania, alongside another college mate from South Sudan.
Before arriving in Duino, David spent the summer working in order to send home some money enabling his family to open a borehole to give his community in Nigeria access to water. In his country, water abounds in the subsoil, but there is no public water network and the rare boreholes are usually exploited on a for-profit basis by the individuals who open them up. After the summer, his plans went further still. To guarantee the constant supply of water, a pump with an electric engine is necessary and David is now committed to finding a generator with a solar panel that can guarantee electricity in a clean and environmentally sustainable way. David told this story, and that of how he convinced his family to share their borehole for free instead of making a profit, in a presentation he made to his college friends during Sustainable Development Goals Week, a series of online meetings on SDGs organized by students on the College’s online platform.
Despite the interruption of the college’s regular life in Duino caused by the pandemic, David and Abdullah’s stories testify to the transformational education that UWC delivers to its students, generating an impact in places one would never imagine thanks to the support of UWC Adriatic’s donors.
Thank you!
