Hope & Joy

Today was a day of celebration. A benchmark for third year nursing students, it was "capping" for the women, and badging for the men; as they prepare to begin their internships in clinics and hospitals. These are students who began their studies soon after the end of the war, when Cuttington Campus was reopening. (There was a campus in Monrovia as well as a Cuttington abroad program during the war years.) Families, friends, faculty, and staff, as well as honored guests filled the Convocation Stand as the candidates took their Nightingale Pledge and received their nurse's before an audience of husbands, wives, parents, or relative. The 133 lit candles to represent the light of Nightingale's lantern, so that they might find the way on their personal journey of healing and care. Among the men, former combatants are turning their swords into ploughshares. They will now care for and heal their fellow Liberians. For me, it was a day of joy and hope. The country moves forward.