Educating the slums

We feel that’s it’s really exciting times for us at the moment.

Although it’s been challenging to find internship and job opportunities for the recent female students who came to Dubai, we keep seeking. They are good students, gradually growing in confidence since leaving Bangladesh for the first time. These are girls from parents who have never been to school, their mothers married off as young as 12 or 13, so these girls are pioneers exploring new territory.

Talking of pioneers, our founder Maria, became the first Portuguese woman to summit K2 on 28 July, already she was the first to summit Mount Everest, she inspires so many people but especially all of us here at the Maria Cristina Foundation. While she was in Pakistan in the mountain villages, she met with some families who need support, and this is something we are currently working on.

It’s an exciting time as universities start a new year, we have some super students who have been accepted on special scholarships at Universities in the UK, Portugal and Dubai. We will support their expenses and we just keep our fingers crossed they receive their student visas ok as this is always a challenge for our students from Bangladesh. 

Elsewhere in the projects, students at school in Bangladesh and Dubai on scholarships continue to do well, some with really excellent grades. 

As we have mentioned before, not all the students are high academic achievers, but in general they are all individuals with a good heart and positive attitude and this we are extremely proud of. We are discovering what talents they have and how they can be successful. 

There is absolutely no doubt that of them are far ahead of where they would have been, without the help of our project and our supporters. So, thank you so much for your help in changing these families’ lives, and the lives of their future generations.

More great news to come soon.

We managed to bring another 10 students to Dubai from Bangladesh earlier in the year, using funds from last year to pay for tickets, visas and to help them initially with accommodation. Already several of the students landed fantastic internship opportunities with multinational companies. These are students whose parents have never been to school, perhaps single mother families or their father is a rickshaw puller in the city. So these new opportunities will change those families’ lives forever.

Elsewhere in the projects, students at school in Bangladesh and Dubai on scholarships are getting excellent grades. Others are graduating University from the large batch of students we have studying in Portugal.

Not all of the students are high academic achievers, but in general they are all individuals with a good heart and positive attitude and this we are extremely proud of. We are discovering what talents they have and how they can be successful. 

All of them are far ahead of where they would have been, without the help of our project and our supporters. So thank you so much for your help in changing these families lives, making huge steps in the right direction, towards a better future.