Woo Hoo She Passed :)

Remember a couple of months ago when I explained the contract we were going to set up with Dulce?? Dulce is our little 17 &1/2 year old house keeper. LW cleaned up a friend's computer so that Dulce could buy it at a very low cost and on installments.

We were hoping it would be an added incentive to remain in school. Part of the contract states she must remain in school until her 18th birthday. Well I'm happy to report that she loves her new computer, and has been using it to study with. She makes a weekly payment of $100 pesos (<$10US) and has 4 more payments :)

I thought I might just share her accomplishments this year. When she started cleaning and spending time with us she began to see that with an education she doesn't have to settle for the same life as the other women in her neighborhood and family have. She and I have a mutual admiration for each other. She has learned from me how important an education is to opening the doors to your dreams. I have learned from her the strength of character needed by a young woman to obtain an education here. Dulce had missed so much school that it wasn't until spring 2007 that she graduated from Primary School. It was fall of 2007 that she started Secondary (jr high) Last year was exceedingly difficult. All her girlfriends where dropping out of school and having babies. She was stuck in classes with 11&12 years old that continually assaulted her self esteem. None of us were sure (not even her) if she would go back this year. But she did :) And she started taking after school classes so that she could challenge the secondary school curriculum. Then came the all day test to challenge courses. She use her computer to study for the last sets of tests. With each set of challenge tests she became a little more confident in herself and her abilities. At Christmas she announced that she intended to challenge the entire secondary curriculum this spring, so that when school starts in the fall she will start high school!! She intends to study and challenge as many HS courses as she can, then apply to University at the Naval Academy!!!!! Last Friday was the last set of tests, and she was really feeling the self doubt creeping in. So we came up with a mantra "I can do this I will do this I AM INTELLIGENT!!" We all sweated bullets..... DO you want to know how she did????

SHE PASSED EVERYTHING!!!!! SHE ACED IT ALL!!!!!! She will start high school in the fall

Will I stop worrying about her finishing school now??? No way, she still lives in a society where higher education is frivolous and unnecessary. It's very likely that she will fall in love with a young man who works in the trades and sees no reason why she would want to go to school. But you know what? If that is want happens that's okay. She has already learned that you can dream big and if you want it bad enough and work hard enough you can make your dreams come true.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" Elenore Roosevelt


Have a most audacious day or evening my Bloglandian friends depending on where in the world you are ;)