Make a Miracle is proud to support education through college scholarships. Jack, Rachel, Lady, Rosa, Doris, Dayana, Edith and I held 3 days of interviews with some incredibly inspiring young people from San Juan de Lurigancho, Peru. Some were held outside during a house build, some at Los Pinos school during gardening & building, some at our office before our workshop. We ran out of tissues early on. We laughed, cried, hugged and loudly yelled "aprobado" or approved 14 times! We all asked questions, and here were some of the memorable responses we heard:
"My greatest accomplishment was graduating high school. My dad abandoned us when my brother was born, and there were times we didn’t’ have shoes to wear to school, and food to eat. We persevered and I graduated 3 years ago."
"The amount of sleep I get per night varies. For example on Mondays and Tuesdays I don’t sleep because I am in classes all day and work all night, then I study. On Wednesdays I don’t have classes so I try to catch up on sleep for the past two days. Then back to no sleep Thursday & Friday, and I make up for it on Sunday."
"I learned to cut hair on YouTube. Also taught myself guitar from YouTube. " (pursuing a degree in Audio/visual Communications)
"When my dad stopped paying for my college, he said GOOD LUCK FINISHING." (we got this!)
"I live about 3 hours away by bus, but today it took 4 because of the traffic. I can come volunteer with Make a Miracle every weekend because I only work and study during the week."
"I started working when I was 9, selling popsicles and candy from my front door. This helped my little brother get therapy for his autism."
"I haven't slept for 3 nights because my interview kept being pushed back."
"My biggest accomplishment was recycling water bottles in order to help my mom buy a small piece of property to build a prefabricated house."
"Make a Miracle gives me the love I never got from my parents." (we heard this from more than one student)
"My dream is to become a professional and help my family. For example last week my dad didn’t have enough supplies to make shoes so he only made $20. That’s not enough to support our family of 8."
"You can’t know the difference you are making by giving someone a scholarship. This drastically changes not only my life, but also the lives of my entire family."
"My principal gave me a scholarship application last year but I threw it away because I thought it was a joke. Nobody gives money for school without wanting to be paid back."
The newly approved students aka our new babies were quick to jump in and help with the volunteer events we had this weekend. They proudly wore their new Team Miracle shirts. Welcome to the team!! We love you!!