Student Sponsorship
Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Providing opportunities for individuals to reach their full potential through further education.
Project Manager
Jane Powell
Operations Manager at HATW
Operations Manager at HATW
Summary
The Hands Around the World Student Sponsorship Programme supports orphaned and vulnerable young people to access further education and build brighter futures. Each year, around six students are sponsored to study university or vocational courses such as medicine, nursing, teaching, agriculture, and engineering.
Our support covers tuition, accommodation, learning materials, and transport — but it’s much more than financial help. We stay in regular contact through WhatsApp, checking on progress, offering encouragement, and helping students overcome challenges such as difficult living conditions or academic setbacks.
During visits to the countries where they study, we make it a priority to meet them in person, celebrate achievements, and strengthen relationships. This ongoing support helps students thrive, gain qualifications, and become positive role models who give back to their families and communities — creating lasting, life-changing impact.
Challenge
In our project areas, particularly in rural and marginalised areas, there is a critical lack of access to further education, limiting young people’s ability to gain essential skills and employment. Barriers such as poverty, high tuition fees, which their families cannot afford, and socio-cultural factors, prevent them from accessing further education, perpetuating cycles of poverty.
The sponsorship programme has the potential to address these challenges, enabling these students to continue their education. The programme provides underprivileged youngsters the opportunity to create lasting benefits both for themselves and their community.
Latest projects
EducationSponsoring Choolwe from Zambia – Agriculture
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Choolwe has been through school in primary and then secondary supported by HATW. He worked hard to pass his exams and did so at Grade 12. He applied to HATW to complete a Diploma in Agriculture at college. He started this in August this year and is greatly enjoying all that the course has to offer. He is keen to learn and develop new innovative ways of farming to help support himself and his Aunt (who he has lived with) to earn a good income. His course will run for 3 years and he will be able to use these skills to get a job.
Date: September 2025
EducationSponsoring Esther from Kenya – Nursing
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
When Esther finished high school with outstanding results, she dreamed of becoming a nurse. But coming from a large family in rural Meru, Kenya, with parents in poor health and no steady income, her hopes seemed out of reach. She worked as a maid to support her family, often earning very little — until she received the opportunity of a lifetime: a scholarship to study nursing at the University of Meru.
“I always wanted to help my parents and others in my community who are suffering,” Esther says. “This scholarship changed my life and gave me the chance to make that dream come true.”
Today, Esther has graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and has completed her internship at Embu Level Five Hospital. She is passionate about mental health, psychiatric nursing, and emergency care, and is determined to use her skills to serve others and support her family.
Stories like Esther’s show how education sponsorships truly transform lives — not just for one student, but for entire families and communities.
Date: September 2025
EducationSponsoring Elly from Zambia – Biomedical Science
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Elly has been supported by Hands Around the World in primary school and then later though secondary school. She applied to us as she was keen to pursue a diploma in biomedical science. She did very well in her exams at school and worked hard to pass her Grade 12 exams. She was successful in her application for funding to complete a 3 year diploma. Elly hopes that her studies will enable her to apply her skills in laboratory testing and disease diagnosis so that she can help improve health care in rural communities.
Date: September 2025
EducationSponsoring Priscilla from Zambia – Pharmacy
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Priscilla is studying a 5-year university degree in Zambia in Pharmacy. Priscilla did very well in her Grade 12 exams which she passed at the end of 2023. She always wanted to work in the medical field and in March 2024 she started volunteering at a local hospital. Here, she learnt a lot more about the drugs and their uses and getting used to how to treat patients with different conditions. This greatly encouraged her to make this a career, and she is passionate about studying pharmacy. Without this support, this would not have been something Priscilla could consider.
Date: September 2025
EducationSponsoring Bebeto from Zambia – Medicine
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Bebeto went through school supported by HATW and was an incredibly hard working and conscientious student. He applied for funding to do medicine and has been working hard for the last 5 years. He found out in September 2025 that he had qualified as a doctor which is excellent news. He would love to specialise in internal medicine or paediatrics. Bebeto will graduate in October 2025, and it has been a privilege to be a small part of his journey.
Date: September 2025
EducationSponsoring Pumulo from Zambia – Nursing
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Pumulo is a qualified nurse and a very capable assistant in theatre at Mwandi Mission Hospital. She was struggling to get employment, and she had been volunteering at Mwandi Mission Hospital. She was put forward by the senior team at the hospital to do a one-year specialism course in theatre nursing. She is currently studying this course and finding it exciting and interesting. She aims to qualify at the end of 2025, and it is hoped that she will be recruited as a specialist theatre nurse at the Mwandi Mission Hospital, where there are a shortage of theatre nurses.
Date: September 2025
EducationSponsoring Daizy in Uganda – Nursing and Midwifery
Partner: Student Sponsorship
| Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, India
Access to quality education can be a major challenge for many young people in Uganda, where families often struggle to afford school and university fees. Daizy is one of these students, her family could not cover the costs of secondary school or university, and without support, her dream of becoming a midwife would have been out of reach. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, she was able to complete her secondary education and is now in her second year of Nursing and Midwifery at university. Daizy is thriving academically and remains determined to use her skills to care for mothers and babies in her community. She is deeply grateful for the support that is making her dream a reality.
Date: September 2025
Latest News
Celebrating 30 years: Esther’s story
Student Sponsorship | Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, IndiaEsther comes from a very poor family, who live in a fairly remote village in Kenya. Sometimes the family don’t have enough to eat and have to rely on the kindness of friends and neighbours to get... Read more »
Celebrating 30 years: Pallabi’s story
Student Sponsorship | Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, IndiaPallabi is a former student of the New Life Centre, Sarberia, India. Using snippets from her regular updates over the years, project coordinator, Tess Molloy tells us Pallabi’s story. Pallabi’s story It has been... Read more »
Celebrating 30 years: Bebeto’s Story
Student Sponsorship | Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, IndiaMy name is Bebeto Malambo, a fifth year medical student at Mulungushi University in Zambia. I grew up with a lot of hardships due to the passing of my father in 2005. I attended school... Read more »