From Africa To Australia: Sponsoring a Young Girl’s Education
By Noel Smith
Thelma was born and raised in the Republic of Zimbabwe, which is located in southern Africa. The capital is Harare and the country was named Southern Rhodesia in 1928 and then Rhodesia from 1965 until 1980.
The story of Zimbabwe, its president Robert Mugabe and the transition of the country from white-controlled Rhodesia to black nationalist controlled Zimbabwe is a fascinating one. But this is about how one African family was transformed by the intervention of one American couple.
In 1998 Jess Brown, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, volunteered to go to Zimbabwe to help the local farmers. The family he stayed with had three young children with Thelma being the oldest. Whenever he visited the country, Jess stay with the same family. It was during this time that the situation in Zimbabwe became chaotic with the economy collapsing and inflation running rampant. The family could no longer send their children to a private school and public education only went to the 6th grade. That was when Jess and Laura Brown stepped in and began to help financially support the children’s education.
Thelma remembers the time of great inflation. “When we went to the grocery store, we loaded up our backpacks with money, millions of dollars, just to buy the bare essentials. When people today tell me they are a millionaire, I can tell them I’ve been a billionaire … and spent it all!”
From the time she was 10 years old until she graduated from high school, Thelma was sponsored by the Browns. Thelma’s younger brother has just graduated from college with a degree in Business and the youngest brother is 16 is attending a boarding school.
Thelma Graduated in 2011 from the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, Australia. UNE has a well-earned reputation as one of Australia’s great teaching, training and research universities. She earned her Bachelor of Social Science degree program in just three years and has an outstanding academic record.
When growing up in Africa, Thelma didn’t consider her family as poor, “We lived as all our neighbors did. Our floors were a mixture of cow dung and mud, my first doll was made of corncobs and we dressed it in clothes sewn from scraps of cloth. It was amazing when I got a Barbie Doll, I would never even imagined such a thing.”
Now Thelma is married to James White, expecting a baby, and lives in Darwin Australia. She is helping take care of the influx of refugees in Darwin that are coming to Australia by way of Indonesia. These “boat people” are refugees from the present day violence of Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa. Many are Muslim. These are difficult times in Australia as the government and the many aid organizations there are trying to find new homes for these homeless and to help them build new lives.
Thelma said the act of kindness by Mr. and Mrs. Brown had “blessed” her. “It’s turned my life around,” she explained. That is why she is dedicated to helping these refugees to “believe in themselves” in a similar way. “No matter who you are, if you believe in yourself you can achieve great things,” she said.