Education Lasts a Lifetime | 2022 Scholarship Fund
Education Lasts a Lifetime | 2022 Scholarship Fund
By Scott Nordstrom
I wanted to outline what we have planned for the New Year regarding our Scholarship Initiative. This is one of my favorite Initiatives in that I believe that every child should get to go to school, and each of these children will personally benefit from an education for decades to come. Can you imagine your own life without some form of education?
I consider myself a life-long learner, and lessons that I learn build upon previous education and or experience. So many things would not have been available to me if I did not know how to read, write, or do simple math. Without an education my life would have been something far less.
Seventh Grade graduation at Jerome Fleischer Day School in Lusaka, Zambia, where twenty orphan children attend on GO! Scholarships.
I can tell you from my own experience that education for an orphan child is usually the first casualty in the family budget. When a child is living with extended family, there is usually biological children in the home as well. These children have the first opportunity to attend school if the resources allow, and the orphan children are left behind.
We are currently working with four partners to serve 467 orphaned children in eighteen schools in DR Congo, Kenya, & Zambia. Our plans for 2022 include offering an additional 86 scholarships. Over the last 90-days we have also had discussions with another five new prospective partners, now under consideration, that have 805 vulnerable children in the current need of aid.
Blessings Nduku of Fortune Learners’ Centre in Nairobi attends school on a GO! Scholarship.
To give you a better idea of the need for intervention in education sector on the behalf of orphan children, let’s consider Nairobi for example. With 60% of the people in Nairobi living in the slums, and I can estimate that there are 714,500 children living in the slums not attending school. Furthermore, we can conclude that 133,610 of these children would be orphaned.
This is a tragedy, and only a singular example, but we can easily assume that there are millions of orphaned children in this world that are not attending school based on a lack of resources within their extended family.
At Global Orphan Relief, we believe that education is foundational for breaking the cycle of poverty, and that this is especially true for an orphan child. An average education can be life-changing for these disadvantaged children. Our partner schools also share the Gospel with students and provide a meal.
Our Scholarship Initiative allows for orphan children to remain with their extended family, while providing them the needed resources to attend school. It is a beautiful thing!
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Students at the Dream School in Likasi, DR Congo, where we support 171 orphans to attend school
As of December 2021, 467 students attend school in DR Congo, Kenya, and Zambia, supported by our Scholarship Initiative. Education is critically important for breaking the cycle of poverty and can be instrumental in providing hope for the future. The Scholarship Initiative is one of the three ways in which we serve orphaned children.
Scott Nordstrom leads GO! today and was a co-founder when we launched in 2005. Scott has served with GO! for 16-years and has been responsible in deploying 160 volunteers on 25 teams to the mission field. He has personally served in DR Congo, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, South Sudan, and Zambia since 2005. Scott has also spoke in the United States, as well as, internationally regarding child welfare and matters of faith, hope, and love.
You may send support or other correspondence to Global Orphan Relief, 16352 Prairie Farm Cir, Parker, CO 80134 or you may give also give electronically at 2022 Scholarship Fund or you may give on this website at the upper righthand corner under ‘Donate’ and simply select Scholarship Fund.
Movement of FAITH | Voice of HOPE | Act of LOVE