Jairo and Dincy are walking fine lines this year. We want to see them succeed but the whole team agrees we cannot continue to be permissive for lack of effort.

Dincy is doing well this year! She is motivated to finish her schooling and got good grades for her first bimester. We believe that being strict with her last year (since she suddenly dropped out in 2020 without telling anyone) and telling her she needs to communicate with us in a timely manner if she wants help really helped push her to be more responsible. She is currently attending school at the same place where Olga is, so it is easier for us to stay on top of her progress. Jairo, on the other hand, needs to step up a bit. He failed math, English, and science. We talked to his teachers and discovered it wasn’t for a lack of understanding, but a failure to turn in his homework.

What we communicated to the families before the school year started was that if a student fails a bimester, the family is responsible for paying the next bimester until the student passes again, then we will continue to pay their tuition. Ilsa has been struggling to make ends meet since the passing of her husband, Ricardo, due to COVID. He was the main breadwinner in the house. Her son who lives with her (but also has his own family) is doing what he can to help but can only do so much. Jairo works occasionally at the market when he can and he is studying mechanics so he can also help earn money for the family.

Jairo wrote us a letter pleading not to lose his scholarship and that he promises to do better during this bimester. We prayerfully considered helping him and discerned that we would give him one final chance. Since the family cannot afford to keep him in school and he is of the age that is prime for gang recruitment, we agreed but told him if he fails again this year, he will lose his scholarship. Here is a translation of his letter:

I am writing this letter in order to explain myself. I failed 3 classes: English, Math, and Science. I handed in my English work but it was too late to be graded (before the end of the marking period). For science, I handed in my work but I did not do it well which is why I failed and got a 58. For math, I clearly failed because I did not hand in all my work.

I want to stay in school and believe me I thank you for your help. Please relay this to my sponsors. I thank them for all they have done for me. The truth is that I want to be the only one of my siblings to be able to overcome my circumstances and have a good job and one day own my own business as a mechanic with my own shop.

I promise that this marking period I will not let you down. I will pass everything and do my best as I can. With your help and God’s help I know I can do it. Seriously, thank you so much for all you have done for me and I don’t want to let you down.

May God bless you and care for you