Last week I mentioned in a post that the two girls who translate our health talks were looking for scholarships to learn how to use computers. Imagine my surprise, when the next day I received several emails pledging financial support for these two! After a flurry of emails and some quick math, eight awesome people in the US had donated enough to secure full tuition for both girls.
Today we accompanied Marisela and Elisea to the Academia de Mecanografía Belén, the school where they want to take computer classes. We were invited into the office and spoke with Justina Francisco, the subdirector and one of the main instructors. She told us about the program: schedules, registration and monthly fees, expected costs for materials, exam schedules, and so forth. It appears that the school is pretty well regarded in the area, and is the only one in the municipality that also teaches computation. Afterwards, we took a little tour of the facility. In addition to their relatively new computer classes, they are also the biggest mecanografía (typing) school in town.
Afterwards, we took the girls out for sodas and discussed our plan. “This will be a contract,” Emily explained. “Our part of the bargain is that we will make sure your tuition, registration, and graduation expenses are paid. Your responsibility is to not miss class, and to maintain good grades.” They nodded, seeming to understand the seriousness of the situation. “In addition, we won’t pay for school supplies or bus fare. That will be your contribution, to show that you are serious and willing to work.”
They thought that was fair, and explained that they wanted to attend on the schedule that lets them take fewer classes that last for more hours, to reduce their travel expenditure. Smart girls. “And no Wednesday classes,” we joked. “That’s the day we have the health lectures. We need our translators!”
So, we arranged everything and paid their registration fees and the first month of tuition. Our plan is to pay month-by-month for the first six months. If they keep their grades up (and there is no reason they shouldn’t; they received top marks when they studied typing there) then we will pay the balance to the school in July. Although arranging scholarships really isn’t our focus here, I feel like this is one of the better, more meaningful projects we’ve been involved in so far. Education, like health, is one of the cornerstones of good international development.
I should finish by saying that the girls were very grateful, as well as amazed that their support just came from random acts of kindness by an unrelated group of altruistic Americans. They were even more surprised when I told them these Americans already know what they look like… explaining the blog is a bit tough; I just say “we send messages.” This really aroused their interest, and they asked out of curiosity to see photos of their benefactors, since their benefactors know what they look like. So… those of you that contributed, if you are so inclined, please email me a photo.