100 ABSTRACTS - NUMBER 56

I don’t like to take the same sort of photograph every day, so had to stretch my mind a little today to come up with something different.  I’ve already done several flowers and made them abstract, so had a look around to find something that wasn’t a flower, although there are plenty in the garden at the moment.    

Whenever we went to the beach - and we do miss going - I would often wander along either early in the morning or in the cool of the evening when there weren’t too many other people about.  It meant if I wanted to sing, I could do so without annoying or upsetting anyone - and I do like to sing.  I tried to remember to take a bag with me to pick up any treasures and these shells were some of them.  Of course, our days of making sandcastles are over, so these are just for decorative purposes, mostly from Boscombe, but there may even be some from our trip to Vietnam.  In any event, I thought they made a good abstract for today.

I used Snapseed to make a double exposure shot, then lightened it a little before using the Superimpose app to make some zoom blurs on the shot and quite like the result.  This is number 56 in my 100 Abstracts Challenge to raise awareness of the Mamie Martin Fund, which believes that by educating girls they are helping to improve the health, aspirations and achievements of those girls and of their future children, thus empowering families, communities and Malawi.

BUSEJE is one of those girls.  She is the first-born in a family of five and after the family was abandoned by their father from primary school days, her mother, who is a poor farmer in their village, was left with the sole responsibility of taking care of all the children. 
 
Buseje received help from the Mamie Martin Fund whilst at Bandawe Girls Secondary School and although she and the family had huge financial problems, she did really well in the Malawi School Certificate of Education.  Following her success, she secured a place at the Malawi University of Sciences and Technology, which is located in the southern part of Malawi in the Thyolo district.  She was also sponsored by the SOKO Fund and was studying sustainable energy systems during her time there.  

What a fantastic role model, not only to other girls in the school and university, but also to her family and a real credit to her mother, and all the sacrifices she made. 

“You may encounter many defeats, 
     but you must not be defeated. 
In fact, it may be necessary 
     to encounter the defeats, 
          so you can know who you are, 
what you can rise from, 
     how you can still come out of it.”
Maya Angelou

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles