Mom went first to neighboring Egypt, where a United Nations office seemed to offer a chance at freedom, but it would take time. “It was hard to get out of Sudan,” Kafi remembers. “You had to have very valid reasons to leave.” Undaunted, Mom set in motion the plan that would, eventually, bring her family to the United States, sponsored by Christ Church in Richmond, VA.
Kafi, recipient of the Mary Dent Scholarship, plans on working for a year or so before resuming her studies to become a family nurse practitioner. From there, she expects her journey to take her overseas once more, as the desperation she sees in images from her native country (“people living literally under rocks”) and elsewhere calls to her. She feels her time at Hopkins will “sharpen my skills, help me learn tools to help people ‘out there.’ ”
Always, Mom’s sacrifice illuminates the path. More from Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine:Running with Friends for Friends in CongoPoliteness Counts, Boosts Patient Satisfaction