Victoria’s Victory!
This week, I had the immense pleasure and privilege of attending a special recognition ceremony at the National University of El Salvador. Victoria, who is a part of our Hope House Discipleship/Scholarship program, is a student there in the department of International Relations, and for the SECOND year in a row, Victoria was recognized for having the highest GPA in her entire department.
This is no easy task. The National University is the only public university in ES. In order to be accepted to study at this university, applicants must pass an extremely rigorous exam. Most publicly schooled children in this country would never be able to pass this type of exam. Only the cream of the crop in the country can enter this school. As far as choosing your own career path…well, in this university, they tell YOU what you are going to study depending on how you do on the exam. UNLESS, you rock the exam. Then, YOU pick whatever career you would like.
In 2016, we met Vicki when she searched her local village for a young woman that had been visiting and starting a girls’ club there. She had heard that, perhaps, the organization that this young woman worked for gave university scholarships (Yes, Hope for Families). Vicki had studied very hard in her local high school and was sure God would help her find a way to attend the National University. So, she tracked down our Fatima….and tapped her on the shoulder one day, and that is the beginning of Vicki’s story with us at Hope for Families.
Back to the exam at the National University…. Vicki ROCKED the exam and was given her pick of degrees. She picked accounting. She had decided that since she was good with numbers, she would be an accountant; that is until she began to live and work with us at Hope House. Vicki loved what she saw when she would go serve in the communities through our girls’ club program. She began to second guess her choice of careers. One day, she sat with me and shared that she was struggling with her career choice. She said that she decided since she had been seeing the impact she can have when working one on one with people, instead of being “stuck behind a desk all day pushing numbers”, she wanted to change her career path to International Relations. We talked about it and decided to let her make that change.
She has been loving her new career choice and she has put forth 200% of her effort to excel in every way. We are so very proud of Victoria. When you realize the very humble conditions in which she has grown up, lived and studied, you will hopefully get an appreciation for how hard this young woman has worked and persevered. At Hope House, she is the first to get up before the sun in the morning to study, and the last to go to bed. She gives her all at the home in her chores and her obligations there. We have to continually remind her to make time to rest and play!
Not only that, but, best of all, we see Victoria growing more and more in her walk with Christ. She loves to talk about God and what He is doing in her life. Today, after the ceremony, Maggie and I took Vicki out to a celebratory lunch up on a beautiful volcano. She was so grateful and blessed by every little thing. From the view, to the food, to the amazing dessert. She takes nothing for granted. She said, sighing, “Oh, God is so good to me! I would never have DREAMED to come to a restaurant like this!”
So, who is the blessed one? Me.
If you have friends or family that would be interested in reading about our stories, send me an email at kathporter5@gmail.com with their address and we will add them to our list.