Donated to:
Qinghai Ran (冉青海)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
My whole family lives solely on tobacco farming. Lately, we have lost much money in our crops, and my brother left the village to find a job. However, my brother is illiterate and earns very little money, not enough to cover my family’s declining annual income and my educational expenses. In these recent years, my parents and my brother have had to pinch and scrape in order to put me through school. The village we live in is extremely poor and technologically backward – with a horrible environment and inferior living conditions. Children are usually forced to grow up quickly, and I am no different. At school, I never had many friends. Initially, I did very poorly in school, was censured by my teachers, and was almost expelled due to failure to pay academic fees. I didn’t give up though, and I started to study harder than anyone in my school. Eventually, I was the top of my class. While I spend more time studying and focusing on my grades, my classmates still look down upon me ...
Jinhua Shen (申金华 )
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
I come from a poor village. My family has no income besides a couple acres of sterile farmland. The output of our fields couldn’t even support our basic daily expenses. Because we couldn’t afford the tuition fee, I dropped out of school for one year when I was in elementary school. In order to continue my education, I did some labor, and my father borrowed a little money from his relatives and neighbors. My elementary school was three hours away from my home, and the bus ride took two hours. I had little money for other expenses like food. I usually skipped meals at school and stayed hungry. Day by day, I went hungry until I graduated from elementary school. Eventually, I got accepted by the County Middle School. Holding the admission letter, I was so happy, but only for a while. My father told me that he couldn’t afford to pay for my tuition fees. I worked hard during that summer and tried to earn enough money to be able to attend. Unfortunately, I still didn’t have enough ...
Guangen Shen (申关根)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
I was born in a small remote village, nestled in the mountains. Although I long to visit the big cities, my village lacks developed roads. People in my village either do farm work or hard labor. The only source of income in my family is the money earned by my father. Unfortunately, when I was little, I fractured my right arm, and in order to afford my medical expenses, his family had to borrow money from neighbors. To pay for tuition fees of both my sister and me, my father had to find a second job. The work was hard to find because my father is illiterate. Like many other poor families who have children attending school, my family is heavily in debt. Despite my difficult circumstances, I love to read. Physics is my favorite subject. When I was in elementary school, I often borrowed physics textbooks from my older sister every time I went home. Since I lived approximately 8.3 miles away from my elementary, I could only go home once every three weeks. In middle school, I enjoyed phys...
Yongsong Dong (董永松)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
I began attending school when I was nine and have always had excellent grades. After finishing elementary school, I achieved the highest score on the middle school entrance exam within the entire Yan Yuan County. As a result, I was accepted into the most highly-ranked middle school, Yan Yuan Middle School. Unfortunately, it was very expensive for me to attend Yan Yuan Middle School, as I had to pay for room and board throughout the week since the school was very far from my home. As a result, I transferred to Mei Yu Middle School so that I could reduce costs by living at home on the weekends. While I used to want to be a professional ping pong player, a lecture from one of my teachers made me realize that I could give back more to my village by becoming a teacher. In addition to giving back to my village, I hope to earn enough money to be able to take care of my parents so that their bodies can rest. (Translated from Yongsong’s autobiographical sketch)
Chao Xu (徐超)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
Six years ago, my father mysteriously disappeared, leaving my mother to raise my sister and me by herself. Although my family owns a small parcel of land, my mother’s health conditions prevent her from actually laboring in the fields. To make ends meet, my family rents out our fields (and even parts of our home) to other farmers. Because my mother works in the city to earn an income for the family, I currently live with my grandmother. I do not see my mother except during the wintertime or under special circumstances. My younger sister lives with an uncle and currently attends elementary school. (Translated from Chao's autobiographical sketch)
Light for Learning
$500 of $500 donated
Kampala, Uganda
Project Purpose : The main purpose of this project is to provide electric lights to Peace School - its 10 classrooms, office, and dormitories. Because Uganda’s feeble electric grid does not reach the school, this project is part of a larger commitment to generate onsite electricity and biogas from sun, wind, and waste materials. A hybrid renewable energy system will be installed with enough capacity to meet both the needs of the school and nearby neighbors, thus creating a potential revenue stream for this private school. An applied curriculum will be developed to introduce children to the fundamentals of power generation and maintenance of renewable energy systems. The students will share responsibilities for servicing and maintaining the energy systems. In turn, they can help their families and community members develop the capacity to operate onsite renewable energy systems as they become available. Providing modern energy generated via renewable resources...
Kwagala Sarah
$360 of $360 donated
Kampala, Uganda
I have attended Peace Nursery and Primary School from the time I was old enough to go to school. Five years ago my mother died and my father became ill. Peace Nursery and Primary School offered to let me stay in the Girl’s Dormitory and cover my school expenses. My best friend is Rita, another girl who lives at the school. I am the top student in my class. My favorite subject is math. I would like to finish my education and become a teacher. I would appreciate your help in making my dreams come true. Note: Peace Nursery and Primary School is a private school serving orphans and other children unable to afford the costs of attending public schools. As such, it receives no funding from public sources. Located in a suburb of Uganda’s capital city Kampala, the school is in a highly urban setting and must pay for water and sanitation service as well as teacher salaries and facilities. School Supplies include a school uniform, other clothing (underwear and...
Mulungi Zaina
$360 of $360 donated
Kampala, Uganda
I have been a student at Peace school for six years. I started in the Primary 1 class. I used to live at home with my parents and come to school only for classes. But my mother died in childbirth and my father was killed in South African while he was working there. So now I live at Peace School. My brother also lives here; he is in the Primary 4 class. And my sister is here; she is in the Kindergarten class. My father was a friend of the Bbaale family who run Peace Nursery and Primary School. During holidays we go to my grandmother’s house. I am a Catholic and I go to St. Luke’s Catholic Church on Sundays. In our school we have Catholics, Protestants, Born Agains, and Muslims. We all get along very well. I am a happy person and a hard worker. I don’t mind doing chores. I help with cleaning the school and washing dishes. The food is good at the school and so are the teachers. We eat matoke, fish, rice, potatoes, beans, and cassava. My favorite s...
Liset Aurora
$350 of $350 donated
Tunja, Colombia
My name is Liset Aurora. I was born in Tunja, Colombia, South America. I am 11 years old. I am the youngest of three children. My older sister is 21 and my younger sister is 20. She has a 2 year old baby. I live with my mother, my two sisters, my nephew and three uncles in a rented apartment. My father abandoned us when I was 4 years old. He lives with another woman and has a little girl-my third sister. Since then, my mother has not received any financial support from him. We, his daughters, do not receive any support towards our education. My mother has struggled and worked very hard to send us to school. My sisters already finished high school but because of financial difficulties were not able to attend college. My sisters do have to work to help my mother because she had an aneurysm and was not able to get a job again, even though she had the desired to continue working. My mother then started to make wooden handicrafts. She sells those handicrafts and with the money she gets w...
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