A Gem Picked from a Pocket of Dust - Molly Tumusiime Abala

Interesting, triumphant and at times unexpectedly heartbreaking, A Gem Picked From A Pocket of Dust is an engaging true story about a courageous little girl dreaming to become a nurse in the midst of a country village stricken with poverty and lack of public services. Born and raised in rural Uganda, Molly Tumusiime Abala was the first daughter after a string of boys born to illiterate parents. Tremendous odds of growing up in an impoverished village community and crippling traditions of marrying off young girls and gender prejudices in education threatened to destroy her future before it began. As a young girl, she watched whole sections of her community nearly wiped out by disease, now known to be preventable with access to clean water and knowledgeable health care. In the midst of an impoverished village of proud Ugandans stuck between a resistant past and an impatient future, Tumusiime Abala soon began to emerge as an independent thinker.