Brewerville – Rachael Gbeyan stood proudly in front of the crowd gathered inside the New Water in the Desert Apostolic Pentecostal Church.
Report by Clarissa Sosin/Staff Writer
Just moments earlier her name had been announced over the microphone and a thick blue ribbon with a gold medallion hanging off of it had been draped ceremoniously around her neck.
She smiled and looked out at the sea of smart phones, her face lighting up from the occasional flash.
Gbeyan, Student Council President and Valedictorian of the Mother Tegeste Stewart School’s class of 2017, was officially a high school graduate.
“I waited patiently for this day. I fought it hard. During the night, under the rain,” she said afterwards.
Just three years ago, this day was unimaginable to her because Gbeyan is an Ebola survivor.
“I think I was going to die,” she said about having Ebola.
“I never had the hope of living.”
Her entire family was stricken by the virus early on in the epidemic.
Her father was the first one to get sick and died within two days of coming down with the sickness.
She, her mother, and the rest of her household survived.
Earlier in the afternoon during her Valedictory Address, Gbeyan lamented that her father was not there to see her graduate.
Now, however, with the virus behind her and her high school diploma in hand, she said she hopes to enter the medical field.
She said that she believes working in medicine is the most useful way to serve and better Liberia.
“I believe that when we have more medical doctors in Liberia, our country can move forward,” Gbeyan said.