Throughout her academic life, 21-year-old Danella Clement faced quite a number of challenges but her final year at the University of Bedfordshire proved to be the most difficult and challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the challenges, Clement graduated with honours in Business Administration from the university last month.
Clement was born in Georgetown but spent most of her childhood in the community of Jawalla in Region Seven. She still resides in the community but had moved to the city to further her education at the Campbellville Secondary School when she was 11 and later at the Nations School of Business and Management, where she attained a diploma in Business Management and Marketing. Under Nations Inc., she enrolled in the University of Bedforeshire.
In an interview, Clement explained that she had “a few ups and downs” throughout her academic life but this year has been the most difficult for her.
“For my first semester, I was between working with my mom and attending school. What made it even more challenging [is] I had to return to Jawalla after COVID. I had to attend my classes online and work every day. In Jawalla, there is no cell service and by extension no Wi-Fi connection,” she said.
She noted that her mother noticed how persistent and determined she was to complete university and so she invested in having internet at their home in Jawalla.
Clement said that she spent the first half of her academic year in Jawalla and even though there was Wi-Fi, she couldn’t have used it as often as she would have liked as they would either not enough bandwidth to connect or the connection would be extremely slow.
“Sometimes I’d miss my online classes and watch recordings at 11pm in the night to two or three o’clock in the morning when I’d get unlimited Wi-Fi, download my classes, do research and get my assignments in on time. It was very overwhelming and tiring…. I was giving up because of the circumstances and COVID. I was baffled on what to do,” she recalled before adding that she even failed one class as a result of those issues.
Adding to the stress, she said, was the fact that her family members were not there at that time as they were stuck in different areas in the country as a result of the pandemic. She said, “I almost quit because it was just me, alone, working and studying. COVID wasn’t making it easy to travel so I could not attend my online classes in Georgetown. All airstrips were closed in the Upper Mazaruni.”
However, she said, she was determined to ensure that she gets her degree and kept telling herself ‘you came this far, don’t quit.’ She noted that knowing that her family was supportive of her also kept her going.
“It was telling on me mentally and emotionally by trying to get everything done, working and being safe,” she said before adding that there were a few people who really supported her but the one who contributed to her success greatly was her mother.
When the airport in the region finally reopened, Clement said she decided to return to Georgetown to finish her studies because it was very difficult to do so in her community. In addition, she said, she was also faced with the fear of catching the virus if she had to travel and her family members at that time told her that it was not worth it if she had to put her health at risk just to complete her studies.
She was undeterred, however and travelled out to Georgetown but according to her took extreme caution when she did so.
Meanwhile, Clement said that were some past experiences that contributed to her determination to finish her final year. When she was nine her father died and her mother was left to provide for her and her sisters, Adona and Azoney.
“I saw how my mother struggled to provide for all of us and play both mother and father role: Took care of us at home and at the same time out in the fields working. At age 15, we lost our home in a fire in Jawalla, my mother had to work ten times harder to provide food and shelter for all of us. Losing my father and losing absolutely everything — because my mother worked from home as well — motivated me even more to further my studies,” she stated.
She added that she saw how difficult it was for her mother to provide them with whatever they needed and that really motivated and pushed her to focus and continue with her studies. “I had to sacrifice a lot because my mother had to work hard to provide for me and give me the opportunity to take in my
education because she didn’t get the opportunity when she was younger,” she noted.
Clement noted that given her family’s financial situation she looked for scholarships and got short listed for one but only students attending top schools were chosen. “While looking for scholarships, I was also seeking universities in Guyana, My eldest sisters had told me about Nations. I got enrolled after graduating high school. I told me myself I’d find a way to further my studies, whatever it takes, just so in case anything happens I’d have my qualifications to get a good job or start something of my own to help my mom,” she added.
Sometime in the future, Clement said, she hopes to open a business but as currently she plans to help her mother and sisters in whatever way she can. She also plans to contribute to her community and by extension, the Upper Mazaruni.
