From Not Knowing How to Read to Being a Pharmacist
I AM AFRICAN & I CAN is a women’s empowerment blog highlighting stories of Black women’s struggles and successes.
By Hadiatou Wann | 03/25/2022
When Dr. Fatou Jawara moved to the United States at the age of 10, she was placed in kindergarten. You read that correctly. Kin-der-gar-ten. When report cards were handed out, she would duck her head out of embarrassment. Fast forward to today, she is a successful pharmacist.
Due to moving around at a tender age from the Gambia to Angola, Dr. Fatou did not have access to early childhood education. This stymied her ability to learn to read. Once she moved to New York, she grew admiration for her cousins but thought it would be impossible to catch up to them academically since she started late. When she learned how to read for the first time, the Gambian native felt as though she could do anything.
From sleeping in Chemistry class and getting 50s in high school, Dr. Fatou admits that one main reason why she performed poorly on her SATs and could not get into good colleges was because she did not take her classes seriously in high school.
“It’s okay to fail. But you have to learn from your lesson. Know what you are doing wrong,” Dr. Fatou expressed.
In high school, she was mainly concerned with getting the answers. However, in college she found herself doing the opposite. In college, while her classmates primarily focused on retaining what was on the slides, for the first time in Dr. Fatou’s life, she wanted to know why? With every lesson, she went the extra mile to understand the material. And because she was aware that Math was her weakness, she spent most of her time honing her skills in math. The result? She aced the 6-hour exam required to get her license.
With a GPA that was as low as 2.8, Dr. Fatou was told by one of her chemistry professors that her poor grades could not get her into pharmacy school. She ended up rescheduling the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admissions Test) twice because she feared failure. In April 2017, while she was working as a pharmacy technician at CVS, she received a letter. Because she was so nervous about what the outcome would be, she asked her co-worker to read the letter for her. Low and behold, she got accepted into pharmacy school! “It was one of the happiest days of my life.” Dr. Fatou expressed.
While in Pharmacy school, she learned to prioritize being a mom, wife, and student. During the first year of pharmacy school, she would be at the library for long hours. Luckily, her husband would pick up the kids from day care frequently. Her schedule was so demanding she thought that she would end up divorced. But her husband stuck through and supported her throughout her journey. And despite being pregnant with twins, the mother of three took up 16 credits and graduated with a 3.0.
From the get-go, Dr. Fatou had an interest in healthcare (especially in how drugs work in the body) but did not want to interact with blood. Instead, she was inclined towards retail pharmacy. Currently she works as a floater. Her schedule is unpredictable as a floater, but it gives her the opportunity to work at different pharmacies. When she began working, she fulfilled 400 prescriptions daily. Now, given the spread of COVID-19, working a 12-hour shift is so demanding that it is hard to take a bathroom break. With doctors calling in for prescriptions throughout the day and people walking in the pharmacy in numbers, working in such a busy environment requires her to be undistracted because once she clicks on the verify button and it is sent out, if there is anything inaccurate, the blame falls back on the pharmacist.
“I’ve never seen a pharmacist with hijab on her head,” Dr. Fatou mentioned about the scarcity of hijabi pharmacists in Atlanta, where she now resides and works. Every time she is assigned to a new pharmacy, she gets stares. However, she has been kind to everyone in the field. They, too, reciprocated it, and did not stand in her way of fulfilling her religious obligation. Whenever it is time for salah (prayer), she stops whatever she is doing to fulfil prayer, and does not get judged or scrutinized by co-workers.
Hawa Saho, a friend of Dr. Fatou since around 2012 says, “When I first met Fatou I fell in love with everything about her. Growing up in the Soninke community was very challenging for me because I couldn’t speak my native language very well and I was much different from the rest of the others girl. I remember one of my very first conversations with her. Fatou was so passionate about education and becoming a pharmacist, I have always believed in her even in times when she doubts her own ability.”
“She has Paved a way in our community in showing girls the beauty of education. I can’t thank her enough; she has been one of my biggest supporters in times of difficulties. I admire her strength; she has a story that deserves to be shared with the whole world. I believe she’s the future for woman empowerment. I wouldn’t trade my friendship with Fatou for anything in the world. I watched her give birth to twins and go back to school; her strength is different. The Fatou Jawara I know is brave and determined, she is my Role model,” Hawa expressed.
Even if Dr. Fatou wants to be mean, she says that she can’t because she doesn’t have a mean bone in her. With many obstacles she encountered throughout her academic journey, she hopes to be remembered as a person who was kind, optimistic, stubborn about achieving her goals, a go-getter, and always there for others. Her success story teaches us that it doesn’t matter how late we start, and how many people try to discourage us, long as we have the willingness and drive to succeed, we will get to the destination we wish to reach.
Inside the Life of a Pharmacist
“A strong woman is someone who is very determined and hardworking. ”
“Success is finding a balance. You can be successful at one thing. But if that is leading you to be miserable at another thing, is it worth it? ”
“Pharmacy school was a long journey, stressful and hard. But it was something I wanted. ”
Connect with Dr. Fatou:
Instagram: @fatoubebe_
Email: jayfatou024@gmail.com
Read other success stories here: www.iamafricanandican.info/blog
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