Scholarship Presentation
By Renee Rice, St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, Santa Cruz, CA
New clothes, shoes, pencils, pens, notebooks and other school supplies are all things that students and parents look forward to purchasing each August, because it means school is back in session. But for the students in Guillermo Ungo there are no new supplies and the only new cloths they get are their school uniforms when their old ones no longer fit and the shoes they are required to wear to school. When I decided to go to El Salvador I knew that we would be participating in a scholarship presentation where we would be handing out school uniforms and all new supplies to about eighty students.
Now, no one can totally prepare you for your experience in El Salvador. For me, the hardest thing to adjust to was “Salvadoran time” which is about thirty to forty-five minutes after the scheduled start time; as a very prompt person this was a very strange concept. We set up the open air cafeteria about thirty minutes prior to the start of the scholarship ceremony and about an hour and a half later we started with a wonderful speech from Don Fito. Each scholarship recipient, dressed in their Sunday best, was called up; they received their uniform, school supplies, and special gifts from the Madrinas and Padrinos, godparents, which is what they call us sponsors. The kids came up, received their goodies and were escorted by our St. Stephens youth over to either the St. Stephens or Good Shepard table, where we took their picture and updated their personal information.
What can fifty dollars get you here in America? Really, most of us spend twice that grocery shopping. Did you know that for fifty dollars you can pay the entire scholarship and the cost of a uniform for your prayer child? I was totally unaware that it costs so little for these kids to go to school all year. I have since decided that since I have the ability to, it would be my honor to pay this for my prayer child. It would be great, if able, each of us could do this. It would allow us to give more money to the community clinic and perhaps even one day we will be able to sponsor every child who attends the school. As it is scholarships are only given to one child per family and on average almost all families have four kids, so the families must come up with the money for their other children to attend school.
Well, I have already passed my length limit and as a teacher I know how important it is to stay within the given constraints for an assignment!! Salvadorans are the kindest, most beautiful people in the world and going to El Salvador was one of the greatest experiences of my life; I can’t wait to visit again soon!!!!
Added by Kent April 26, 2009 (10:57PM)
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