In late February we finally received the decisions regarding
the applications for school tuition grants that the Mustard Seed had helped
caregivers prepare. The outcomes
were mixed. Two of our
applications were not approved, and not because of anything lacking in the
applications, there is just not enough funds to meet the need. In one district over 700 applications
were received for the 300 tuition grants available. In another district, the administrators decided they had
enough funds only to cover students entering their first year of high
school. The result is that many
orphaned children in Lesotho, not just our Mustard Seed girls, face the disappointment
of not being able to continue their education. So in terms of meeting our girls’ school needs, we have some
big decisions about the tuition costs.
For us at the Mustard Seed it means in part considering how
we will work in the future. Yes,
some of our girls were approved this year but other families we worked with
were only disappointed. And the
families that we work with have few or no alternate resources to pay the fees
so their granddaughters or nieces can attend school, so the disappointment is
acute. With less than half of applicants
being approved, what do we do for those families we have supported to
apply? Do we tell them, maybe next
year? Or, sorry? The reality for many families, even
with one or both parents, is that there are insufficient resources to send all
or even any of their children to high school. Why should the girl orphans we come in contact with be any
different? But that feels like
giving up, in addition to being uncaring.
So at the Mustard Seed we will begin talking about our response at our
April board meeting.
Maybe as an organization we have reached a point where we
have to ask, "Do we go bigger or go home?" Do we do just keep doing what we have been doing, and see a few applications approved each year. Or, do we begin the arduous task of fundraising so that irrespective of
funding, or lack thereof, from the government of Lesotho we can see that girl
orphans that we work with have the opportunity for a high school
education? Do we we seek to find the
approximately $70 Cdn per month to keep a girl in school (tuition, uniform,
books, adequate nutrition, as well as emotional and peer support). That works our to $840 per year, $4200 (not adjusted for
inflation) for five years of high school to see a girl through to
graduation. If so, then for how many
girls? Ten? Twenty? Twenty-five? Fifty? Think of us and if you are into praying, pray for the
Mustard Seed board as we consider what our response will be.
Meanwhile most of girls we are supporting, now numbering
seventeen, are busy with their high school studies. Another has applied to the national university,
and yet another who has completed high school is working while considering the next
step in her education. I am
especially encouraged with the efforts of a number of our high school girls who
are working very hard on their school work including joining small study groups
with like minded students committed to doing well. Our Maths tutor this year, another of Wendy’s former
students, is also doing an excellent job preparing the girls for greater
success in what is such a difficult subject here.
The Mustard Seed, starting small, and as God leads, looking to our future.
~ Benno ~
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