Misenga Ntumba shares her story

My academic journey started in 2009, when I had just
graduated from state school in Kananga. I was 18 years old
and wanted to apply for enrollment at the Congo Protestant
University in the Faculty of Medicine. I dreamed so much
of attending the UPC because I had information about the
good training given there. But since studies were expensive
there, my parents had resolved to enroll me in the University
of Our Lady of Kasai. Surprisingly, there were no more places
for new candidates in medicine on the day I applied. We
were discouraged.

One day, my parents were invited to a wedding party. Mom
could not attend so I accompanied Dad to represent her.
We met Imck Tshikaji, Administrator Kabibu, and he told us
about a missionary who worked with a group supporting
the studies of young women (Education Congo). It was then
that we got to know Mr. Shafe and applied for scholarship
assistance through the Congo Presbyterian Church and
the UPC. Education Congo agreed to support me from the
preparatory through the final year of medical school.
I dreamed to one day become a gynecologist and public
health expert and did not want to give up my dream. In
the 3rd graduate year, I experienced difficulties—needing
just one more point in Physiology to be promoted.

Unfortunately, this meant after spending three years in
medical school, I would be unemployed.

In 2015, I enrolled in Medicine at the Vaal University of
Technology in South Africa. But as medical studies are very
expensive, my parents offered me to study nursing for four
years instead. Determined, I could not be convinced to do
anything other than medicine. My parents and I decided
that I would return to the Congo. I wanted to continue
with medicine at UPC, but I thought that Education Congo
had forgotten me and that my scholarship had been given
to someone else.

To my surprise, my name had come out
on the beneficiary list and I realized that I had not been
forgotten. When I returned to the UPC to reintegrate into the
3rd degree in medicine, my South Africa colleagues laughed
at me and said that I had made the wrong decision.
Today however, with God’s help, I have completed my
studies as a general practitioner. I thank Almighty God who
has held me for a year of internships and kept me safe even
during COVID. I want to express my feelings of gratitude to
the Shafe family and Education Congo for supporting me so
much during this long academic journey!!!

Misenga Ntumba, 2022 graduate of UPC