URGENT NEED!

Sponsorship Please! (And please post on your blog if you'd like) :)

I am in urgent need of finding people willing to assist in sponsoring Maeza's Nursing School education! Unfortunately, her sponsor is no longer able to provide the tuition and transportation expenses of her education, however, Maeza is halfway through her Nursing degree and it would be a tragedy if she was no longer able to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse.

The finances: As of today, we need $1,800 to fund her entire education, however, it is not all due now. We are in need of sending $300 to her to cover $200 tuition (due per trimester) and $100 in transportation (per trimester). More or less, it looks like this:

November 2008 $300 (this is past due)
January 2009 $300
April 2009 $300
August 2009 $300
January 2010 $300
April 2010 $300

Just a little about Maeza: Maeza is only 17 years old, she just turned 17 and has completed over one year of college. She has lived in Kechene, along with her sisters for many years. As many of you can attest who have visited Kechene, the girls are absolutely wonderful and it's truly amazing how they have persevered through so much heartache and suffering to become the truly humble, beautiful, and talented young ladies that they are. When I met Maeza in January 2007 she hardly spoke any English, even though English is supposed to be the language of instruction in all public schools after 7th grade. English is difficult to learn when the teacher cannot speak it him/herself. However, we soon discovered that Maeza wanted to become a nurse and in order to do that, she would need to learn English. After only a couple of months with an English tutor she was enrolled into a private university in the Hiya Hoolet area of Addis. The decision was not made lightly, and Nesredin worked very hard in order to learn which institute would provide her with the most opportunity. Nearly 1 1/2 years later, she is doing amazing! She has completed almost half of her 3 year degree and her written English improves with every email I receive from her. In August she began her practicum integration meaning that she spends half of her class in a classroom and half of it observing and working with patients. Her final year will be practicum only and she is very excited! She is succeeding in all her courses and Nesredin confirms that she absolutely loves school and works hard to succeed.

If anyone is willing and able to provide any amount of financial support to her education I would be grateful. You can simply just email/comment me and let me know that you are interested in providing some assistance and I can give you my address to send the money to. It will then be wired to Nesredin/Maeza to pay the tuition and to provide her transportation. If I get more than one trimester's support, I'll hold on to it until it is due as cash is difficult to protect in Addis and could be stolen if Nesredin/Maeza held on to it for too long. I can provide proof of wire transfer if anyone would like that as well.

My email: bettinakeppers @ hotmail.com (without the spaces)

THANK YOU!!!!!!!



In the photo from left to right: Nesredin, Maeza, and Roza :)