Gosh! Where to begin? Well, we hope that you are all having a wonderful autumn, wherever you are. We have lots of news from some of the students that we want to share with you. As ever, please visit each student’s individual page for more information, photos, letters, etc.

ANGELA – If you recall, Angela graduated from high school in Mexico City with very high marks. She wants to be a commercial pilot, which is an amazing dream. Unfortunately, we can’t pay for her to go to pilot school in Mexico (even though it’s cheaper than in the United States). So she has come to the U.S. to live with her brother in southern California and try and work for a couple of years to save money. Angela is a U.S. citizen, and we helped her mother buy her passport, her plane ticket to the U.S. and give her a little money to start her off in this country. Since we can’t pay for her pilot school classes, this seemed to be a helpful way to provide her with at least a start. She’s a bright, talented young woman and we have no doubt that if she wants to be a pilot, she’s going to do it!

Leaving Mexico

A very tired Angela arrived at LAX

APURVA and PRERNA – School has finally reopened for our students in India. Apurva is killing it in 12th Standard (her last year before the university!). She recently received a fist prize in a physics competition, and she wants to go on to medical school. Prerna is doing amazing work with the storytelling project created by Aarti, her mentor. More than 500 teachers in rural areas are receiving these highly inspiring audio stories and more than 5000 girls and their family members listen to her audio stories every day! Prerna is also helping lead an initiative called the Girls’ Audio School in rural areas, which helps more than 60 girls improve their basic reading skills in both English and Hindi. Prerna wants to be a sound engineer. Please visit her page for a wonderful audio letter to us.

MIREYA – Mireya is in law school in Peru. We still are having a hard time reconciling the little girl we met several years ago with the young woman who is leading her study groups and doing so well on her way to becoming a lawyer. Mireya received money from her sponsor here in the United States when she turned 18. John put aside money for her when he first met her. When she turned 18, she opened a bank account and that money was transferred into it. It is not a fortune, but it is enough that Mireya will be able to pay for her schooling, and relax a little about books, helping her mother, and making her way into the world. John wanted us to mention this because he wants other people to do the same if they can. Between our support of her through high school and John’s support of her life through the trust he set up, Mireya will have the chance to grow into the extraordinary woman she was meant to be.

GLENDA – We know that Glenda is not technically supported by ONE, and hasn’t been for several years, but we still think of her as a ONE student, so we wanted to update you on her progress, because we are so proud! Glenda has received her diploma for nursing school! Now all she needs is her titulo (her certification), which she will receive after her state-required service and passing her exam. We couldn’t be prouder of her; she’s dealt with having a son, her husband coming to the U.S. to work, violence and school closures, Covid, needing to work to pay for her school, and a host of other problems faced by so many women in other countries. But she has persevered and we hope to be there to see her graduate in December.

ROSHANI – In Nepal, Roshani passed her 10th standard exams and wants to go on to pharmacy school. We are waiting to see if she was accepted into the program to figure out how and if we can support her beyond high school. We know we can at least give her a start, but we hope to be able to do more, since Roshani’s prospects are not great if she stays in Dhulikel and doesn’t continue studying. We’re so proud of her that she passed her exam, and we have our fingers crossed that she will be accepted to the school she needs.

JENIPHER ANSELM – Jeni just entered the university in Mbeya to study engineering. She wrote an email saying that she was getting ready for her biomedical engineering class. Shannon and Greg say she is understandably nervous and remarkably calm. We would expect nothing less from our Jeni. We still can’t believe she’s in the university!

Please visit all the girls’ pages. Most have been updated pretty recently. We hope all of you are well and happy. Thank you again for all your support of our students. We are really excited for them and to see where they go in their lives. Without all of you, this wouldn’t be possible for them.