I cried again yesterday, but this time it was that release of overwhelming emotions of relief, achievement and gratitude, i made it at last, i have crossed to the finish line of my Masters degree in Public Health.

Graduation photo shoot with Toga

Few years ago, i made the decision to be financially independent and take my self through post graduate studies. I had a perfect plan set up that would finance my Tuition and bills. In fact, i had a plan A,B and C. With all the plans i had, nothing could go wrong, right? Atleast i convinced my self.

I was a fresh graduate from Nursing with no working experience or savings whatsover. Going home to startbmy career as a nurse did not seem as perfect idea as nurses are highly under paid in Tanzania. I knew i needed this advanced degree in order to make it in the medical field back home, and unlike Nursing, a degree in Public Health would put me at a more advantagious position both at home and abroad.

I come from an ok family, we dont struggle to have 3 meals on the table, but basically manage from pocket to mouth. With my mother being the sole provider, i wanted to take this burden off her. After all, they had tried theor best to take me through School , up untill my Nursing degree. It was time for the to focus on my siblings and other issues at home. I was going to manage by my own.

I began off the pursuit of this degree in November 2014, ideally i was to be done by march 2016, but things never go as planned. My main plan A got shaky right from the beginning, it was truly a test. Well, it did not destabilize me so much, i still pushed on.,

Plan B, which was also my overall support system eventually seized to work half way though my program. With plan A shaking and B not functioning, i had to skip a few semesters of school to raise money and catch up on bills.

Me in A Filipiniana , i think i looked great. Still on graduation photoshoot.

In the Philippines , foreign students are not allowed to engage in any profitable employment, getting a job to boost finances was out of the equation. I actually secured a job once, but could not keep up because of lack of working permit. At that point in time, i had noo idea of the endless opportunities the Internet has to offer. I did not know that one can work remotely from wherever they are as long as they have good internet and a laptop, damn i wish i knew.
As a lady in dire need, many temptations arise, and as desperation arises, one is prone to give in , just to get an extra buck. But that will be a story for another day. (When i get the courage to speak about it).

With all the happenings (i did no go into deep details) , school had to be pushed forward to two more years. There were times that i fell into depression, with atrocious thoughts of ending my life,(Yes it was that bad). Especially when i logged in to social media and read about other peoples success, I felt like a failure. I allowed my self to cry, but at the end of the day, dusted my self, killed the negative thoughts and continued to push forward. I did not give up

To cut the long story short, i never thought i'd see my graduation day come to pass.
After paying quite a huge amount for my Research just two weeks ago, i was not ready for any extra expenses. I thought i was done, atleast for now.
Just for me to receive a text message that i was to pay a certain amount of money in order to graduate. To make it worse, i was to pay that amount the following day as it was already the deadline.

I did not have that amount on hand, and i was already thinking i will miss my graduation ceremony. The One day i have looked forward too for four years. For those who dont know, in the Philippines, you pay for everything. Even for Toilet paper in a public Toilet.
I convinced my self that its okay to miss the ceremony, as long as i will be getting my certificate at the end of the day.
I was told that i still have to pay 80% of that amount weather i will be attending the ceremony or not and i told my self if i still have to pay even if i will not attend then there is no need for me not to attend.

Thank God, i had accumulated an amount here on steemit that was equivalent to what i had to pay for graduation. Even though i was trying to save that amount to something tangible to pay off with. i was okay to sacrifice it and start a fresh in order for me to experience that Feel of achievement marching at my graduation. Its something i have toiled too hard for.

So for the success of this event , i owe my gratitude to steemit family for the unwavering support. Especially to @surpasinggoogle for his continued support in helping us all make something out of this amazing platform. I was able to march at my graduation because of steemit. It was a steemit powered event. Here are some photos.

Thank you for reading lovely people. See you again on my next post.