Meet Dacheline!
In 2014 we met a woman named Aris Toribio who had converted her 4 unit rental apartment complex into a school to provide education to the children in the community who otherwise would not have an opportunity to go to school. She was trying to charge tuition to the families to cover the cost of her teachers but many of the families could not afford to pay. When we met Aris she told us the story of one of her students who was very near to her heart, Dacheline.
Aris shared with us that Dacheline she had recently lost both of her parents and was being cared for by her aunt. We were told that she was about to be taken out of school because her aunt could not afford the $2.50/day it cost to send her to school on a Moto-Taxi. Our hearts were saddened for this sweet little girl, but we knew there was a family in Canada that would gladly cover the cost of her transportation so that Dacheline could stay in school. This was the beginning of our Education Sponsorship program which started with one girl and has grown to now over 150 students.
A PROFOUND LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE. The family that gave Dacheline the gift of Education is the Borovica family from Coquitlam. Diane and Jurgen have been our number 1 volunteers since the very beginning and became the first family to sponsor the education of a student which became the foundation of our Education Sponsorship program. After years of watching Dacheline grow up through pictures and communicating through letters, the Borovica's were finally able to make a family trip to the Dominican Republic and spend time at our school with Dacheline.
To say this was an impactful experience for Diane, Jurgen, Hannah, Brendan, and Dacheline would be an understatement!!
None of their lives will ever be the same. When you give the gift of education, you may think you are changing a child’s life (which you are) but in fact you are also profoundly changing yours.
Dacheline is growing into a remarkable, smart, exceptional young woman, and we are so proud of her!
We cannot wait to see how this empowered young lady will go on to create a better future for herself, her family, her community and possibly even her nation. Dacheline, along with all of our other students who are quickly growing up, is the reason we are building our Secondary School.
- Diane, Dacheline's Education Sponsor