This month, we’re celebrating the inauguration of a new class of students into our Nursing Scholars Program. We’re thrilled to support this cohort of 15 new GAIA Scholars in Malawi and 5 in Liberia, continuing to prepare the next generation of frontline health workers with the skills they’ll need to lead local response to urgent health crises in their countries and to end the AIDS epidemic. When Scholars gathered recently for a welcoming ceremony at Kamuzu College of Nursing, the head of the College, Professor Mercy Pindani, had a message for the students:

“pass your good fortune on… (and) support others and improve their status just as GAIA has supported you.”

This is a message that Scholars take to heart, shown by the 95% fulfillment rate of the program’s public service commitment, by the fact that two-thirds of Scholars support the educations of younger siblings and extended family, and by the mentorship seen between program alumni and girls and youth in their communities.

The impact is huge. I urge you to share a new 1-minute film on GAIA’s nursing program with friends and family, and help us raise awareness of how this program – now more than 500 nurses strong — is changing, and saving, lives.

Zikomo!

Todd Schafer
Executive Director

The new class of GAIA Scholars at the 2018 inauguration ceremony in Lilongwe, Malawi.