Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Scholarships

Something that has been on our heart for a long time has been to scholarship some kids from from the village of Armenia Bonito. We have a contract the kids, parents, and one of us signs. This includes passing grades, tutors as needed, writing letters to their sponsors in The States, working for us one day a month, etc. This gives the kids buy-in, and a desire to do well. The scholarships are a year-by-year basis. So, we are starting with three kids, and are resting in God's provision for these kids. We have registered these kids before we have cash in hand. I took two of the kids to their school today for early registration, the other young girl we will register next month when the school is open.

Walter is one of the young boys who has worked with us for a long time - many of you who came down on short-term missions trip will recognize him. He was a favorite among many with his sweet personality, patience with everyone's Spanish, and a very hard worker! His desire is to be a computer technician. Walter finished school in 6th grade (3 years ago) and has not been to school since. His father died, and his mother works to put food on the table. Past 6th grade, kids have to pay for school, and for most all the kids in Armenia, this is totally beyond their means. For that reason, Walter has been trying to work odd-jobs here and there, but his on-going desire has been to attend school. His dream has now come true. Here he is:



George is a young boy of 12 who just graduated 6th grade. His mother died when he was young, and school past 6th grade was always something he knew was WAY out of his reach. However, he is now being given the opportunity to pull himself out of the poverty in which he lives. His desire is to graduate and then attend a Vocational school for car mechanics. This will allow him to get a good paying job and to be able to support himself, something he always thought was an impossibility.



So we stand by our desire to scholarship these boys and know that God will provide the funding from individuals in The States for them. The other young girl we will scholarship will be highlighted in a later blog entry.

3 comments:

The McClain's said...

Hey girl! I think this is amazing and I am so looking forward to following their stories. Tell Madison way to go on the great job in school! Oh and check out our blog for some interesting visitors we had today ;) Love ya!

Nomosian said...

Erin - what is the cost for school for each of these students?

Unknown said...

Each kid is going to cost about $60.00 a month, with a "start up" cost of about $150 (for uniforms and materials, etc). Will probably need a couple of people to scholarship each kid.