Did you know that more than 65 million girls did not go to school today? That’s a horrifying statistic when you think about it. Girls around the world fail to go to school for a variety of reasons. Some of these include the following: cultural attitudes towards women, early marriages, trafficking, child labor, lack of sanitary products and poverty to name some.
But as Rahab and I conduct interviews at Kolanya Girls’ High School today, our attention is laser-focused on each individual applicant. The girls are ready for this. There’s an intensity about them, they understand that this opportunity to get an academic scholarship from Esther’s Hope Ministries, could change their future forever. One by one they file in. Some are extremely nervous, others confident; we try as best we can to put them at ease, assuring them that it’s just an interview, not an inquisition----some smile.
One girl walks in, she’s nervous, as she sits down, I notice the frayed, threadbare collar of her blouse, both sleeves seem to be hanging on by a mere thread. I glance at her profile on the sheet in front of me and the staggering tuition balance catches my eye. And then she begins to tell me her story, and my heart breaks. She does not even have the necessities of life: “soap, toothpaste, socks…” she seems embarrassed and I can tell she’s holding back.
Another girl walks in, she’s the fifth of seven children. Her father and mother divorced when she was young. Her mother left permanently after the divorce, and for the last 11 years the children have been shuffled back and forth between father and paternal grandmother. Sadly, her father died at the end of 2017. She says, to me, “I saw my mother for the first time in 11 years at my father’s funeral. I didn’t recognize her. We now live with my grandmother.” I make a quick mental calculation, she was barely three years old when her mother left.
Someone else walks in, she has the saddest face, I have ever seen on a child. As she begins to narrate her story, I notice she’s fighting back tears. I quickly glance at her profile and I can see she has excellent grades. When she stops speaking, I ask her, “Has anyone ever told you something good about you?” She appears confused. I rephrase my question, “Have your parents ever told you anything positive that they see in you?” She says hesitatingly, “Yes.” I probe, “What did they tell you?” Her answer floors me, “That I must work hard and get a job, so I can support my siblings.” I dig deep and find the strength I need, not to weep. Instead I smile at her and remind her who she is in Christ and then I compliment her on her grades. She lifts her head and shoulders for the first time since she walked in, and I catch the ghost of a smile.
The problem of 65 million girls not being in school is daunting by any measure and we are completely unqualified to solve this kind of problem. Only God is able to do so, but he works through people like you and me. If reading this blog, moves your heart, you can change a young girls’ destiny for just $35.00 a month. Visit our website: www.esthershopeministries.net to learn how. “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40).”