Sponsorship and mentoring helps Madi pursue a career that helps others

Madi knows her life could have turned out very differently. Her mum struggled financially to raise three children on her own. Even with her mum’s sacrifices, there wasn’t enough money for the increased education costs in high school. Without sponsorship, Madi’s options would have been limited.

“The sponsorship helped lift the weight of finding the extra money that, frankly, we didn’t have – to buy uniforms and textbooks for me at school,” said Madi.

"In Year 9 onwards I was able to pick the electives I wanted and not have to pick the cheaper subjects because that's all we could afford."

When Madi was only 16 years old, her mum had a heart attack. Madi was devastated and refused to leave her mum’s side. Then a chance encounter helped her discover her calling.

“[My mum’s nurse] sat with me for what seemed like 45 minutes explaining all the big words the doctors had used earlier that day, and asked if I had any questions,” said Madi.

Madi studied hard and achieved her goal of getting into a Bachelor of Nursing at university. The ongoing support of her sponsor meant Madi could afford her course materials. But as the first person in her family to go to university, she didn’t have anyone to guide her. So we matched her with a volunteer mentor, who was a registered nurse.

"I think that without my mentor I would have been so nervous about my first placement day that I would have cried before I walked into the unit."

Now in her third year of university, Madi plans to go on to work in emergency psychiatric nursing. She’s so grateful to her sponsor and mentor for the opportunity to achieve her dream.

Read about how you can become a volunteer mentor and support students like Madi.