I cannot get over how fast time is going by; we have already been in country for 9 months and graduated PS over a year ago! This is made obvious by the fact that our first school semester is coming to an end this week. Next week will consist of only giving and grading exams, and then the students are free to return home. With a new semester approaching in July, the school fees are due once again.
Before we left, we stopped by State College to say goodbye to our amazing college friends (most of whom have just graduated!! Congrats!). Michael’s best friend, Fletcher, generously gave us $100 to go towards the kids in some way. For awhile, we discussed how we could make the most impact with his aid. With a new semester coming… and with ample time to get to know the students individually… we decided to use the money to sponsor a few students to continue their education. Plus, We are strong advocates that an educated society is the driving force for a country’s development. We went to our school’s financial mister and asked to help us choose the students with the most need. Little did we know that he would pull out a multi-page list of all the students who have yet to fully pay their tuition. . .many of whom are form 4 (seniors) who will not graduate if they do not pay the 4 years of accrued school debt. It turned out that Michael and I were ignorant in thinking that the students who were attending classes were the ones who paid fully.
After discussing the numbers, we determined that Fletch is able to sponsor multiple students because the school fees are actually very small compared to the American dollar. After the conversion, a child can attend school by paying less than $12 a year. I assume that, to Fletcher, giving $100 was no huge impact on his wallet. To many other hardworking Americans, this is only pocket change. But here, that same amount of money means a whole year of schooling to eight students, or a full 4 year education to 2 students. This is a HUGE difference. It is experiences like these that I know will never allow me to look at the American dollar the same way as before I left home. I can tell how difficult it will now be for me to try to buy an overly-huge flat-screen TV knowing how many families I could have helped with that $2,000. Looks like our future home might be quite boring.
Now the painful process began of trying to decide which, and how many, students are to benefit most out of Fletcher’s kindness. We are currently trying to decide based off of their school performance and family background. This is overwhelmingly difficult because the performance we know is only based off of a couple exams (what about the poor test takers? Or the students who are forced to fetch water and farm after school instead of study?) Also, how much importance does the family give to education? Are they spending the money on alcohol instead of their child’s fees or are they choosing between feeding their many children a piece of meat once a week or contribute to their education with the little expendable income they have? With the latter, how can you judge?) The decisions have not been made. . our plan is that once we have chosen and spoken with the students that we will make them write Fletch a thank you letter and send some pictures. Fletcher, our school staff could not fully express the amount of gratitude towards you…even though you probably thought your contribution was minimal.
This took up a more writing than I thought, so next week I will write about our experience with female circumcision. Yikes!
Miss you and love you all
Thank you Fletcher.
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