By Natasha Baker | Development Volunteer
Dear GlobalGiving supporters,
For this report, we want to circle back to an indigenous youth leader, Ruth, whom we profiled back in April 2015, and again in August 2016.
When we first met Ruth, she was on her way to college at the Federal University of Recôncavo Baiano for social sciences. Her ability to pursue higher education was made possible because of MSMC’s Indigenous Youth project (supported by donors like you!).
MSMC has made such an impact on Ruth’s life that she wanted to share more about how college is going:
I am now in my fifth semester of college, with only three more to go until graduation. Last semester was filled with rich learning experiences. I started the scientific initiation program offered by my university, which helps students learn how to conduct studies. As a volunteer in the one-year program, I analyzed anthropological reports of the remaining “quilombolas” communities, which were formed by escaped slaves back when slavery was still legal in Brazil (slavery was abolished in 1888). I have presented the findings of my research alongside graduate students.
As I was one of the first indigenous students to be accepted to my university through a special admissions process for indigenous members of quilombola communities, I am thrilled to see more indigenous students enrolling. We often get together and are working on building an indigenous community within the university to encourage one another in pursuing and sticking with our studies, because having the motivation and resources to see through until the end is challenging.
I am lucky and grateful for all of the support I continue to receive from my indigenous community back home. They greatly contributed to me achieving my dream of going to college and they keep me on track each semester. I want to give back to my community as a thank you for all that it has done for me. My roots are in my community. Whenever I am home for the holidays, I participate and contribute to community events. Who knows? With the support I am fortunate to receive, I may even consider another degree after I finish this one….
Wow! With your support, indigenous youth like Ruth are not only breaking free from the poverty of their communities to pursue higher education, but they are setting the example for other indigenous youth to follow in their footsteps. It is always easier to pursue a dream when you see others like you doing it. You are contributing to those dreams! You are making it possible for indigenous youth to see themselves as university students, scholars, and community leaders. Obrigada! Thank you!
Mitakuye Oyasin
Îandé Memé Maranongara
Somos Todos Parentes
We are all related
Links:
By Natasha Baker | Development Volunteer
By Natasha Baker | Development Volunteer
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
