Last fall I made the decision to sponsor a student here in El Salvador through the scholarship program that is organized through the Minnesota church, Family of Christ. Last summer I learned all about the scholarship program and I was able to go to the celebrations for the 300 o so students who are n the program. It was so energizing and inspiring to see all the students who are able o go to school beaus of the support they get through the scholarship program. I saw some of the students meet their sponsors who had come to El Salvador. The connection they had was so beautiful, I was inspired. So when I heard they needed more people to sponsor students, I felt called to sponsor a student.
I requested to get a girl student, but other than that I was surprised when I got the information about the student I was sponsoring. I got a picture of her, a copy of her report card, and a sheet of basic information about her. I looked at this stuff and then put it back i the envelope which got literally and figuratively buried in everything else that was going on in my life. When I was getting ready to come to El Salvador in March, I remembered my scholarship student and thought I might bring her a present. I wasn´t able to see her, but I left the present with someone who was able to give it to her.
I brought another little gift for my student this trip, but the best part was I was actually able to give it to her myself. On Sunday we had a little party for the scholarship kids and my student was there. All the students sat together and I was able to recognize her from the picture I had of her. At first it was a little awkward chatting with her, but soon we were chatting comfortably. Her name is Dinora and she is 16 years old. She is in her first year of high school. She has 6 brothers and sisters- I got to meet a couple of them who were at the party. The thing that I enjoyed hearing about mos was what she wants to do in the future. She wants to go to the national university and study tourism. It was so wonderful to hear the dreams she has for her future- for many Salvadorans even finishing high school is a dream. Only because of the scholarship program can Dinora think it´s possible for her to go to college. Furthermore, I was so happy to hear that she wants to study tourism because El Salvador needs all the help it can get to be more touristy.
Dinora and I didn´t get to chat for very long, but I fell in love with her. She is such an intelligent, sweet, precious, pleasant young lady. I really wish I could have spent more time with her, but she had t head home. We said good-bye and she gave me the biggest hug ever. We were both pretty close to tears. She doesn´t have Facebook or email, so it´s going to be hard to keep in touch with her which makes me very sad.
