MAKING A DIFFERENCE

By operat11 on October 11, 2009 in Indigenous people

We all want to make a difference and change lives for the better – our own, our family’s and others who have even less.

Here are two photo stories of making a difference.

One is small, but important to the little girl who was too

Anita shows off her best dress. She quit going to school because she was embarrassed.

embarrassed to go to school in dirty clothes instead of a school uniform.

Maribel gave her a school uniform which transformed not only her appearance, but her life. She returned to school happy and cheerful. Yes, this was a small thing, but it made a world of difference for Anita.

Meet John Neil Santos, called by his teachers, “the brightest, smartest student we ever had.” His high grades son him a scholarship to college, but he lives in an Indian community on an island and the college is on the distant mainland. He doesn’t have money for room and board near the college so has to paddle his canoe for 6 hours each school day to and from classes in all kinds of stormy weather.

Meet John Neil Santos, called by his teachers, “the brightest, smartest student we ever had.” His high grades won him a scholarship to college, but he lives in an Indian community on an island and the college is on the distant mainland. He doesn’t have money for room and board near the college so has to paddle his canoe for 6 hours each school day to and from classes in all kinds of stormy weather.

Sunrise at sea finds John on his daily 3 hour canoe trip to his college classes. Some mornings are beautiful, as this one. Others are stormy and dangerous with rainy, wind-whipped seas threatening to overpower his little canoe. John needs help to rent a room near college so he doesn’t have to make this hazardous trip 5 times a week. $300 will provide room and board near his college for the school year and eliminate his dangerous canoe journeys.