Fabiola Jenson and Fartun Hirsi came to the U.S. from Rwanda and Somalia in 2014. Almost eight years later, they have graduated from the School of Nursing at the University of Southern Maine.
Last year, Chasing Maine featured their stories in “The Indomitable Spirit.” Now, we return for their college graduation — to celebrate their difficult journey of success and the indomitable spirit they summoned to achieve their dreams.
“When I was among with other students, I was feeling like my dream became reality,” Hirsi said of the commencement ceremony. “My heart was full of joy and happy.”
The journey to graduation did not come without sacrifice, as the two nursing students explain in the below video.
“When there is no pain, there is no gain.”
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor is a local journalism product published by The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a nonpartisan and nonprofit civic news organization.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.