Dreams to Reality Scholarship Fund
Ali
Alicia Narvaez (Ali)
I have 6 sons aged 8 through 25 years old. I live at the school with my sons. Our rooms are attached to the school.
I'm the oldest of 5 children (three girls and two boys). We were all very young when my mother began to work as a domestic in other people's homes. Before this she sold bread and tortillas on the street to feed all of us. We all helped her sell and as the oldest I was her main assistant and also took care of the younger children. My father had left and was no help to her or us. She always worked hard to give us what we needed and to keep us with her.
We always studied and my mother wanted us to go to school but I only finished the second year of high school due to lack of money and having to take care of my brothers and sisters. At 16 years of age I had my first son and lived with my partner. But that didn't last and I returned to my mother's home and my sisters helped take care of my son so that I could go back to school.
I took a course in handcrafts and one in sewing that have helped me tremendously to make some money and to teach others these skills. These skills allow women to work out of our homes and make a living as single mothers. These showed me that I had abilities to teach.
When a group of young people from Spain came to our neighborhood in 1996 and helped us start a clinic and a preschool, I wanted to teach in the school. We started the school in a park and then in the basement of a church. None of us teachers were trained and most of us only had finished grade school or two years of high-school. The school was a success because the children in the neighborhood had no money to go to regular schools and we were able to teach them the basics of reading and writing.
Over the years with the help of missionary couples we were able to buy the present school, start to receive salaries and even consider going back to school to study ourselves. I was very excited about going back to school because I love to learn and teach. I have definitely taken advantage of this wonderful offer to return to school.
Through the Scholarship Fund I have been able to finish high school and I am now studying in the university to get a degree in Teaching Pedagogy. I am in the second year of my degree and will finish in 2 years and six months. This has really changed my life because now I know I can teach as a licensed teacher, earn a better salary, a be a good example to my children. My third son was the first to graduate high school in the whole family and I was the second.
I am worried because if the Teacher Scholarship Fund stops I will not be able to continue my studies which is very important to me. I'm grateful to all who have helped me so far and I hope to be able to get my university teaching degree.
