When Grace Ninsiima of Uganda took her four children and fled from an abusive marriage, she felt like a failure. After starting a new life, she didn’t want anyone to know her story.
That is, until Jane Clayson Johnson approached Ninsiima about sharing her story in a documentary Clayson Johnson was producing about BYU–Pathway Worldwide.
When Clayson Johnaon — an Emmy-winning journalist and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — began filming her documentary, Ninsiima was working toward completing her bachelor’s degree from BYU–Pathway while also working two jobs and caring for her children.
By the time the documentary was completed, Ninsiima had earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and was serving as an area manager for BYU–Pathway.
Clayson Johnson’s new documentary “Pathway to Hope” highlights the sacrifices and accomplishments of BYU–Pathway students in Africa like Ninsiima.
“What I saw in Africa changed me profoundly,” Clayson Johnson told Church News. “What I experienced in these students’ homes, hearing about their lives, hearing about the sacrifices that they make to get an education was so inspiring to me. I have never seen anything like it.”
Clayson Johnson introduced her documentary and showed a 20-minute preview at the BYU campus forum on Sept. 30. The entire documentary will air on BYUtv Sunday, Oct. 5, at 4 p.m. MDT.
What makes BYU–Pathway unique?
In her documentary, Clayson Johnson stated that only 9% of the population in Africa attends college.
However, Clayson Johnson said, a “revolution is quietly unfolding across the continent.”
BYU–Pathway Worldwide is giving students in Africa a chance to “defy the odds” by providing them high-quality, low-cost, spiritually centered education accessible online.
Currently, more than 85,000 students in 180 countries are enrolled in BYU–Pathway, with more than half of those students in Africa.
Elder Clark G. Gilbert — a General Authority Seventy and commissioner of Church education — said in a BYUtv news release that BYU–Pathway boils down to one word: hope.
“We’re taking people who can’t afford to feed their families, who are barely surviving, and we’re seeing them get education, get an employable job and eventually have a career where they’re self-reliant and can serve and lead and build other people.”
Clayson Johnson said BYU–Pathway is democratizing education through innovations like three-year bachelor’s degrees, certificates, the support of service missionaries and the impact of scholarships.
“But the reason BYU–Pathway works,” said Clayson Johnson, “is because it is divinely inspired. And the reason students sacrifice so much is because they know God will help them.”
Different circumstances, similar faith
According to “Pathway to Hope,” 74% of BYU–Pathway students in Africa struggle to find even two meals a day, and 76% don’t have stable housing or reliable internet.
Why would Clayson Johnson want students in Provo, Utah, to know about students in Africa, whose lives look so different from theirs?
“Their circumstances are very different from yours,” she said, “but their faith in Jesus Christ and their dedication to His gospel is the same.”
Clayson Johnson spoke of BYU–Pathway students’ resilience and determination, saying that she wanted the world to hear their stories.
“These BYU–Pathway students are remarkable, and what they sacrifice to get a college degree, to uplift their families, to move their lives forward is something I think we all could learn from.”
She later added, “After working on this documentary, I know more than ever that the Lord is aware of all His children.”
Clayson Johnson called BYU–Pathway “one of the great miracles of our day” and invited BYU students in Provo to consider themselves part of that miracle.
“Never take your education here for granted,” she said. “It is a sacred stewardship.”
Continuing stories
Ninsiima traveled to Utah to attend the BYU forum and a prescreening of the documentary that night.
“Being here today just helped me to realize what a bigger perspective Heavenly Father has,” she told Church News.
Ninsiima explained that 10 years ago, she never could have imagined that God would make something beautiful out of her hardships.
She said as she watched the documentary at the forum, she thought of Doctrine and Covenants 122:7, which teaches, “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.”
At that moment, she felt God reassure her, “Do you see what I can do if you have faith in me?”
She attributed her courage and strength to support her family and continue her education to the power of Christ’s Atonement.
“I feel that I can trust the Savior,” she said. “Nothing that would come to me would shake me at this point. I don’t care what it is. I know that the Savior, nothing is impossible for Him.”
