Every Drop in the Bucket Counts, News from Orthodox Christian mission in Sierra Leone...

MY PRESENT AND MY FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS!

I want to tell you a story about my past life. As a small boy I experienced a lot of difficulties getting an education. I was unable to study, because my parents had no money to buy my text books or reading books so because of this my passing grades in school were not that good. But I sat the national primary school examination N.P.S.E and I came out with grade 268 out of 500. I passed the exam and this was the happiest moment in my life. After passing the exam I was to go for high school interview and then the principal asked my parents to pay the sum of 250,000 Leones(60USD).

This was a sad moment for me as I knew my parents did not have that much money. My parents tried to see if they could borrow some money but they were only able to get the sum of 150,000 Leones(35USD). We went back to the school and pleaded with the principal to help us. The principal saw the effort of my parents and helped us. All through Junior school has been better or me but as I had to take the Basic Education Certificate Exams (BECE) this needed extra money. I worried so much because without sitting that exam my education was finished.

Then I met with a man by the name of Mr Kyriakos who lead me to the orthodox faith and I also met Father Themi. I became baptised into the Orthodox Church. Later Father Themi helped me with my BECE fee, the sum of 300,000 Leones(70USD). This was a very happy day in my life. Let me tell you, if I did not sit this exam, my life would be very different now. I would be selling water or trading in the streets like so many boys my age (I am 15 years old) or worse just begging and who know what.

As time went on, other important people came into my life. Mr King David and Dr Christomanos. These two also helped me greatly. This year I also met Ms Eleni. This community of people became my helpers, my supporters and my role models. They also have played different parental roles in my life. I have been truly blessed.

This month, I have just finished Senior Secondary School 1 and I was confident that I scored well to go even more forward to senior secondary 2. But the teachers held my assignment results for over 3 weeks and without them I could not get my final grades. Why did they do this? Because they wanted me to give them extra money (on top of school fees) to release my assignment results.

My parents give me little bit of lunch money so instead of buying lunch I don’t eat so I can save the money for each subject and the individual teacher can give me my assignment results. This is what happens in Sierra Leone schools. We have much corruption in our country.

Sad to say I could not save enough money to release all my results. Two weeks ago tired and hungry I went to meet with Miss Eleni and I explain to her what I was going through at school and she helped me with my remanding assignment money. God always bring me solutions to my education problems and so I went back to school and pay for all my assignments. I am waiting now for my final results.

So presently things are getting better in my life because of the help of people who care. Thanks to Father Themi, this year I was able to pay my school fees on time. Thanks to the Orthodox Youth fellowship donations I was able to buy some text books needed for my subjects. Even though I am still faced with difficulty as to who will pay for my books and school fees in September 2013 I hope and pray and trust that God Almighty will not abandon me. The Mission and kind support I get has been such a blessing.

In addition since I joined the Orthodox Youth Fellowship, it has made me grow spiritually, emotionally and socially. I feel positive for my future and hopeful. From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU for your kind donations for the food we eat at youth fellowship the paper and pens and for our transport home every Saturday.

Please remember us in your prayers and please help other children from our youth fellowship so they too can hope for a better education through your donations.

Christ Jesus now and always

Stefanos

Περισσότερα...  http://ierapostoli.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/every-drop-in-the-bucket-counts-news-from-orthodox-christian-mission-in-sierra-leone/