There’s something beautiful that happens when good things happen to good people, especially when their hard work pays off. This was the case for James Matthew Besa, who self-identifies as a cis-male nursing student of colour. His genuine, caring character and commitment to the field of nursing were recognized this past year through the Margaret A. Evans Memorial Scholarship. The encouragement and financial support from this award came at a time when James desperately needed it to help fulfil his degree requirements.
Leaving a legacy
Margaret A. Evans spent her time compassionately caring for her parents and others who suffered from illness and ailment. The way she lived her life inspired her adoring husband, Bernie, to create a scholarship in her name for students who emulate her gentle and cheerful attributes, which she maintained even through the harsh Depression years. Bernie established the award after Margaret passed in 1981, but her legacy lives on through the lives she touched, and the 111 (and counting) University of Victoria nursing students who have received the award to date.
James’ values fundamentally align with Margaret’s. From an early age, he also passionately cared for people, animals, and the environment. He joined his mother in Nelson, BC in 2016, after immigrating to Canada from the Philippines. Driven by his desire to help people and his remarkably sunny outlook on life, he decided to follow a career in nursing.
Nursing is the art and science of caring. If you look at what we must do every day and you can do it with kindness, then everything that follows will be positive.”
—James Matthew Besa
More than money
Moving to Victoria as an international student posed several challenges, so James enrolled in the partnership program between Selkirk College and UVic. This allowed him to stay in the Kootenays with his family and helped ease some expenses. Before nursing school, he worked two jobs to help pay for the program. Once school started, James was determined to do whatever it took to become an excellent nurse and he dove headfirst into learning.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t realized his remote location would mean he would need to travel far from home for his practicum placements. The scholarship helped James overcome that obstacle. “Receiving this award gave me some financial freedom. $2,000 is a big deal for me,” says James. He used the scholarship money to purchase a reliable vehicle so he could travel safely to his practicum placement 90 minutes away. Working four days on and three days off, he fitted the car with a mattress and heater so he could stay in it overnight and save travel time between long shifts.
James’ compassionate nature and dedication to helping others shines through his academic and professional journey. Throughout most of his degree, he also worked as a student nurse at a long-term care facility. “Dementia care, palliative care, and end-of-life care are quite hard to do, but I like the atmosphere of home while doing your job and being able to build strong relationships with my patients.” He is also very interested in the developing field of environmental nursing and exploring how the environment affects the mind, body and soul.
Challenging systemic racism in the nursing profession
During school James also advocated on behalf of fellow students to challenge systemic racism. Having experienced racism first-hand after moving to Canada, James is proud that he channelled that negative energy into positive action. He served as the People of Colour caucus chair for the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association and published his own research, The Diversity Embracement Project. “My aim in making this project is to inspire other nursing students like me to challenge social injustices in nursing programs and society in general,” says James.
So, what’s next for James? After graduation, he plans to work in underserved communities in BC with a goal of one day working for the World Health Organization. Regardless of the exact job or organization, his ultimate dream is simple: “I want to advocate for people like me and to make a little difference.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
