Welcome to the One New Education blog.

2012 has already been a big year, and it’s only two and a half months old. Christa went to Nicaragua and Honduras in January, and met up with five new students who became ONE scholarship recipients. Four are from Nicaragua and one from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In addition, we awarded scholarships to Rebecca and Naume from Uganda. You can read about all of them on our newly updated website. Due to the magic of Skype, we can communicate with our contacts in all these countries, and we hear that the girls are doing really well. Right now, we’re awaiting a new application from Haiti as well, which is pretty exciting.

We do, however, have some sad news about seven year old Andi Macial Poveda, one of the new recipients from Nicaragua. Although her grandmother had allowed her to go live with the family in town, she has since decided that she wants Andi to be with her and live out in the country. The grandmother is very elderly, and she says she is sick and needs Andi at home with her. Our contact in El Sauce went to talk to her and she told us that the grandmother is not sick and that it’s a “pretext” (the word she used). More likely is that her grandmother fears that Andi will leave her for good. So Andi will go to class when she can at the country school. If she stays there, she will probably not attend past about third or fourth grade, which is common for the country. Her family in El Sauce is very angry with the grandmother, because Andi was doing really well in the private school and loving it. But we have hope that things will change. Luckily, Andi is just starting out in school, and we can provide another scholarship if things change in the future.

It is common that family members worry that education will take their children away, which is part of the reason we at ONE want to help students go to school in their own towns, rather than far away. When the family can stay together, it works better for all concerned, and there is more support for the process. Andi’s grandmother is all alone, and simply changed her mind about Andi living with relatives in town. Perhaps she will come to an understanding of how important an education is for her granddaughter. Andi wants to stay in school, so that’s a start. Andi’s page will remain up on the site since we are optimistic for the future. We’ll keep you posted.

There are a lot of people out there who believe in the importance of education, especially for the young women of these countries, and they want to help. So as things develop, we’ll post periodic updates, and let you  know how the girls are doing. Each girl’s page on the website will be updated with more photos and news from time to time, so everyone can get to know them as much as possible. Please pass on the word about ONE. We are excited about our start, and about the future for these girls. And thanks for visiting!