Dequeni Foundation "2008 Scholarships"

The Dequeni Foundation presented the "2008 Scholarships" with the motto: Greatness comes from helping others

El futuro de toda una generación Future inside Die Zukunft einer ganzen Generation
Dequeni quiere juntar 2000 becas Dequeni wants to gather 2,000 scholarships Dieses Jahr will Dequeni 2000 Stipendien sammeln
Lanzamiento: Carlos Uhl, presidente de Fedapar; Andreza Ortigoza de Medina, Coordinadora General Fundación  DEQUENI, Fernando Talavera Gustale, presidente de la citada entidad; miembros de JQM  (Juventud que se mueve)Enrique Giménez y Javier Canillas. Starting of the Campaign: Carlos Uhl, Andreza Medina, general coordinator of Dequeni, Fernando Talavera Gustale,President, and  members of JQM Start der Kampagne: Carlos Uhl, Vorsitzender vonFedapar; Andreza Ortigoza de Medina, Generalkoordinatorin von  DEQUENI, Fernando Talavera Gustale,Vorsitzender von Dequeni; Mitglieder von JQM: Enrique Giménez und Javier Canillas. Fotos: Medina © 2007

PARAGUAY, Dequeni/mkf. Dequeni launched its Scholarship Campaign 2008 for the fifth consecutive year. Traditionally the initiative has invited the benefactors, friends of the Foundation businesses and organizations, to join this work of solidarity with the aim of helping to decrease the school dropout rate. This year the schools have also been asked to help. Furthermore the YWM (Youth Who Move), a group with ties to Schoenstatt, joined the campaign.

Organizations and businesses supporting this project as well as young students from different educational institutions participated in the launching of the campaign. On Monday, October 8^th at 5:00 p.m. the Scholarship Campaign 2007-2008 for 2,000 children from the daycare and community centers of Asunción, Fernando de la Mora, Ypané, Caacupé, J.A. Saldivar, Caáguazú, and Arroyos y Esteros was launched at the Industrial Union of Paraguay. The Scholarship Campaign became a great national and international crusade of solidarity.

"Children who help other children"

The network of solidarity was enlarged by the goal of obtaining 2,000 scholarships. Whoever is interested can support the campaign with a contribution of only 300,000 Guaranies ($55 or 45€), which will allow a child to receive an individual scholarship. Groups of friends could also be formed to donate money for a scholarship. A new proposal, the Inter-school of Solidarity, in which children and youth from several educational institutions can also get involved to promote healthy competition, was formed. This new modality within the campaign was in response to the great need of involving children and young people from academies and schools to collaborate thereby helping less fortunate children to continue with their studies. The seventy children from a kindergarten in Frankfurt, Germany who joined the Scholarship Campaign 2008 were presented as an example. They sold handicrafts to raise money for ten scholarships for children from Paraguay. These were the first ten scholarships of the 2007-2008 campaign! The children from each course can buy bonds of 10,000 Gs. equivalent to 1.5 euros. Thirty children can provide a scholarship or they can ask their parents to match their contribution 1+1 (the child buys one and the parent buys another one…) "We are growing and we believe that we will meet the goal of providing 2,000 scholarships for the 2008 school year," said Andreza Medina, the general coordinator of Dequeni. The schools earn points for prizes for each scholarship contribution; the students from the grade or course contributing the most will also be rewarded.

The president of Dequeni, Fernando Talavera, an Engineer, stressed the support from YWM (Youth Who Move) and Fedapar to this campaign, as well as the desire of the youth who want to help children and adolescents who lack financial support. The president of Fedapar, Carlos Uhi, pointed out that this is a very worthwhile initiative, and that as parents they will accompany their children in support of the campaign. Members of YWM emphasized that their mission was not only to clean the city; it was more importantly to clean all of society.

Complete Scholarships

Each child from the projects of Asunción, Fernando del la Mora, J.A. Saldivar, Caacupé, Caáguazú, Arroyos y Esteros, and Ypané will receive a complete scholarship, which consists of a uniform, a backpack full of school supplies, the tuition for the school in their community, and mentoring throughout the school year. As previously mentioned, it is very simple to support the campaign. During the school year each donor will receive a financial statement of their contribution: in March, they will receive a letter of appreciation with a photo of their godchild, at mid year, they will receive a report, and at year’s end they will receive another report with their godchild’s grades.

It is a joy to help so concretely

At the beginning of the campaign, Dequeni received the funds that been collected through schoenstatt.de: a total of thirty-three scholarships. "My brother, a doctor, urgently needed an assistant. He was in a very difficult situation. I asked prayers for him at the Original Shrine. When everything was resolved incredibly well, he wanted to do something in appreciation. I presented him with several Schoenstatt projects and he decided on Dequeni," said a young lady from the Professional Branch in Germany. "I am very happy with his decision!" A couple donated two scholarships on their Golden Anniversary, another young couple asked for scholarships as wedding gifts.

You do not need to be an adult to be great

"To be great is to be committed to a cause, to be useful, and to contribute to society that challenges one to reach goals. To be great is to lend a hand to one needing a hand. This is the kind of greatness that we want to teach children, and so they can see that the adults are great not because of their age; rather they are great because of their contribution to society," this statement was made during a presentation at the launching of the campaign. Greatness comes from helping others.

Online donation (with credit card) possible via: www.dequeni.org.py

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA/amj