Fulfilling the desire of hundreds of children to study

Dequeni collected two thousand scholarships for children in Paraguay

Se cumple su deseo de estudiar Their wish to study will be fulfilled Ihr Wunsch, etwas lernen zu dürfen, erfüllt sich!
Entrega de becas Presentation of scholarships Übergabe der Schultüten Fotos: Dequeni © 2008

PARAGUAY, dequeni/mkf. The 2000 Scholarship Campaign, which will give children from the different projects of the Dequeni Foundation the opportunity to study in their community school, ended in January. Each scholarship consists of a backpack with school supplies, a complete uniform, tuition, and mentoring during the school year.

The scholarships benefit the children of the projects of Asuncion, Fernando de la Mora, J.A. Saldivar, Ypané, Arroyos y Esteros, and Caacupé. This concludes the fifth consecutive year of this campaign whose main objective has been to make society aware about the necessity of fulfilling the desire of hundreds of children to study and to develop the same as many others.

Thanks to the efforts of many, the scholarships in solidarity accomplished a high honor at the national and international level; many Paraguayan residents from the exterior as well as many foreigners joined this wonderful campaign of solidarity.

More than one hundred and thirty scholarships arrived from Germany, among them there were scholarships collected by children in kindergartens and schools.

A student from Poland saved throughout the year in order to donate a scholarship for the second year: "I want the boy who went to school in 2007, thanks to my contribution, to continue in 2008," commented the donor.

Affectionate bonds are established between the benefactors and beneficiaries regardless of distance or language barriers. "I pray for Ariel every day; he has trouble with mathematics," commented a retired mathematics teacher from Germany. "I am so happy that his grades have improved. I firmly believe in his potential."

To demonstrate the great potential of the children

To believe in the potential of the children – this is a strong motivation for everyone, who in one way or another works with and for them. Like when eight children from the community centers from Fernando de la Mora and Ypané were chosen to participate in the XXX INTERNATIONAL RACE OF KINGS – New Balance Cup 2008 on January 19^th. Ever Centurión and Sandra Montiel won second place in the 1,500 meters; they are both 13 years old and are beneficiaries of Casa de Acogida. Part of the registration fee will be donated to Dequeni of which New Balance is a sponsor. The objective of the children’s participation in this competition was to demonstrate the great potential that they have for sports, another aim was to win the prize for the construction of multi-purpose field at the center, and for a children’s park at the center of Ypané.

The first scholarship of campaign 2008/2009

The scholarships for campaign 2007/2208 have not been presented yet – the presentation will be at the end of February 2008 –when the next scholarship campaign is prepared. On Ash Wednesday, a Children’s Home in Germany will present a cardboard tube, which is usually filled with sweets, toys, and things for their desks that the children receive on the first day of school as a symbol that Lent is starting. But this cardboard tube will be empty. The children and youth who perhaps are not in a situation of poverty like the children from Paraguay who are Dequeni beneficiaries but who possibly come from worse situations such as broken families or as victims of abuse, violence, and negligent want to fill the tube with coins until Easter. These coins they will save instead of buying candy or other things; but they will also represent things such as refraining from saying bad words, skipping school, or cleaning their rooms and doing their school work well…These thirty-six youth want to collect a scholarship for a child in Parguay, they want to donate the money so that this child can go to school; the other sacrifices are offered so that their friend in Paraguay can overcome their difficult life situation.

It will be an Easter full of hope and light.

• More information on Dequeni in English: www.dequeni.org.py