Carol received a Beinecke scholarship in 2011 to pursue a Ph.D. in environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington. She completed her degree in 2018 and is now a Research Analyst for the conservation partnership with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities at The Nature Conservancy. Carol collaborates with WCS through ConSoSci and is a proud mother to her beautiful daughter, Kirabo Grace.
Carol: It is not an exaggeration when I share that the scholarship I received from Beinecke for my graduate studies uplifted the education level of my family and entire clan by an order of magnitude.
Both my parents did not complete primary school, and by the time I received my scholarship in 2011, only three sisters and one brother had graduated from the university. Adding me, that made us five children out of over 17 who received bachelor’s degrees. While this 29% graduation might look impressive, we five did not live in the same household or even near each other (we lived with our different mothers), and, even worse, the rest of our siblings and half‐siblings did not graduate high school. Zooming out further to my cousins, the statistic got even smaller, with about seven of us out of over 60 cousins who had bachelor’s degrees at the time I was named a Beinecke Scholar.
So, coming from that background and getting a scholarship to pursue graduate studies in the USA was a great source of pride for my family and encouraged many of my younger cousins, nieces, and nephews to complete secondary school, and graduate from high school and college. Given how large my family is, I don’t have the numbers of how many of the next generation have received bachelor’s degrees but based on the congratulatory messages on the family WhatsApp chat and Facebook posts, I know the number is a larger percentage than it was in 2011, when I was awarded the Beinecke Africa Wildlife Conservation Scholarship.
Additionally, I receive messages from my siblings and cousins every time their children attain an impressive academic achievement, sharing with me that their child (especially when it is a girl) wants to be like me. The highlight of this is that my 5-year-old daughter told me she wants to be an animal research doctor when she grows up!
To my family and community, knowing a person who looks like them and comes from a similar rural, polygamous, and non-wealthy setting to receive a scholarship for graduate education is a beacon of hope for them. They see themselves in me and know that it is possible for them to achieve high standards in education and careers. While a lot of progress has been made in educating girls, seeing me—one of their own—listed among the 40 under 40 influential women in 2016, illustrates that the woman’s place is not just in the home, but also in the Universities around the world, and on newspaper headlines for good when possible.
In all I do beyond my graduate degrees, I know that I provide hope and an example of what the children growing up in the same settings as I did can achieve when presented with a generous opportunity like I received from the Beinecke African Scholarship.