“In less than two years, everything I’d been used to all my life just went ‘poof ’ and was gone.” That’s how Njillan Forbes, a second-year Earth Sciences student from The Gambia, describes the upheaval in her life since coming to Dalhousie.

It wasn’t just that she was learning to cope with university, an unfamiliar country far from home, and the challenging Nova Scotia climate. In November of Njillan’s first year, her much-loved mother passed away unexpectedly. “I kept thinking – why am I here – I should be at home mourning with my family,” she recalls. “I was so sad and I missed my mom so much. She was the one who really wanted me to come to Dal; she believed it was the perfect school for me.”

Overcoming obstacles

Determined to fulfill her mother’s wish and continue at Dal, Njillan was settling in to second year when a new obstacle came to light. “My mom had been helping to pay my school fees,” she explains. “But, without her contribution, covering the costs was a big financial challenge. My father is a pastor and has a limited ability to help.” She describes receiving the Slaight Family Foundation Scholarship for African Students as an “absolute miracle.” It proved to be the definitive factor that enabled her to continue her education at Dalhousie.

“The scholarship means so much,” she says. “I love my department and what I’m learning. My professors are such good people; they are so supportive and encouraging. And, it makes me happy that I can stay and be where my mother wanted me to be.”

Njillan has also become responsible for New Covenant School and Soul Talk, the private school and non-government organization that her mother established. “My mom was a big advocate for improving conditions for girls and women in The Gambia,” explains Njillan. “She wanted to empower people in our country, especially girls. That’s why half of the students at her school receive their education for free. I hope I’ll be able, in some way, to continue the work she did.”