The other day I met with a donor for student scholarships and he shared with us the stories of their scholars. Their foundation visits the family of the students to see their living conditions and also helps in the formation of the personality of the students. Although it is not my first time to hear of abject poverty, what he told us still touched me. He told us of a girl who lives in the cemetery, of a boy who was battered by his own father because he wouldn't give his allowance (given by the scholarship) to his father who wanted to use it to drink, of a mother who refused to send her daughter to school because she needs help selling fishballs, of students who had to go to a barangay hall to study or to a nearby street lamp because there is no light inside their house.
Thank God for people like this donor, for believing that education does change lives. There should be more people like him who are willing to invest in our poor youth. Education is the way out of the cycle of poverty. Although I do hold the position that it is not a surefire way, at least they are given a chance.
Is it really that big an expense to help send someone to school? I asked about expenses from a mother who wants to send her daughter to school but can't and I figure she needs around 32K for two sems worth of tuition plus transpo and some incidental costs. 32K is less than 90 pesos a day. And what is 90 pesos to us? A cup of coffee at a fancy (I must say overpriced) coffee shops, less than the cost of a movie ticket, less than a meal at most restaurants, much less than what we spend on a night out, and so on and so forth.
There is one story I read that I will never forget. The story tells of a laundry woman in America, definitely not wealthy like the usual donors of scholarships are, but who sent several students to college. Her generosity is awe inspiring. She had so little, and yet she shared. With my analogy of the 90 pesos a day, we really don't have to be millionaires to be able to send one poor child to school. Ninety pesos to us who have more means nothing, but to a poor one, it makes a world of difference.
So I say...we can change the world one student at a time, at ninety pesos a day.
