Abigail’s Story

When Abigail’s parents died of AIDS, she was forced to drop out of school. She went to live with her elderly grandmother in rural Zambia, who struggled to support her orphaned granddaughter. With Camfed’s help, 18-year-old Abigail is about to finish her final exams at school. Today, she dreams of becoming a journalist or an accountant.

In the film, Abigail tells us: “When I start working, I want to help other orphaned children and put them through school. Teaching a girl is a very beautiful thing.”

Abigail is just one of 750,000 Zambian children who have been orphaned by AIDS. Many of these children – particularly girls – are robbed of the chance of an education because of poverty.

Yet educating girls is the single most effective weapon against HIV/AIDS in Zambia, where the life expectancy for girls like Abigail is just 33.

For every year of education she receives beyond primary school, Abigail’s future income will increase by 15% and her vulnerability to AIDS will drop significantly.

Since 1993, the Camfed has been fighting poverty and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by offering girls like Abigail the chance of an education. In 2006, our programme of educational support benefited more than 250,000 children.

Young women who have been supported through school by Camfed have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and businesswomen. Now they are sharing the benefits of their education with their communities.

In the last year alone, these successful young women have supported more than 16,000 children through school out of their own pockets – a virtuous cycle that will help to break the cycle of poverty in rural Africa by giving future generations of children the chance of an education.

As Abigail says in the film, offering a girl the opportunity of an education is indeed a very beautiful thing. With your continued support, Camfed can help to offer that opportunity to many more girls.