She BELIEVED She Can and She Did….

This is about one of the children who surpassed obstacles and achieved great results in her 12th standard. Menaka had scored 1028 in her 12th public and wanted to become an agricultural scientist. In our camp “Buds n Colors 2013”, the adolescents were made to visualize their dream through an art exercise. In the Dream BIG exercise, she had visualized herself as an agricultural scientist who was receiving her reward from another scientist for her innovation in the field.

 It was after the camp, the results were released along with the cut off-for each courses.  On seeing her marks, there were many friends and neighbors who persuaded her and her mother to take up engineering as that would give an easier entry and also better income. In addition, B.Sc (Agri) at Tamilnadu Agricultural University received overwhelming response this year of receiving over 30000 applications this year for the 600 seats. Menaka’s dream looked like being shattered., Yet she was very firm and looked for opportunities to gain an entry into the course. 

 On asking her personally why she did not look at any other option, she had expressed
“I come from an agricultural family, after my father’s death, we (mother, brother and I) moved over to our grandparent’s place. I used to go along with my grandfather to the field and enjoy working in the field. Now that we have moved out into the town for my education, I still cherish those memories of being at the field, sowing and reaping the crops. When I was in my 9th standard, my grandfather expressed with deep sigh that many were giving away the lands for real-estate business and agriculture work was coming down. Then I made a decision that I should give back to the land that fed me and my family and that is when I started dreaming to become an agricultural scientist”.
She personally took efforts to talk to some of the contacts in the agriculture field referred by Buds of Christ and other friends and tried to gain admission through private institutions. She wrote a separate exam for Annamalai University and has got her admission into the B. Sc (Agri) course. She is very happy and confident, that she would be able to see her dream come true as one of the best scientist in the country.

Buds of Christ supported Menaka with an educational scholarship of Rs. 5000/- for her higher secondary and now Rs. 10000/- scholarship for her B.Sc Agri course fees. Buds of Christ is serving over 170 children like Menaka in rural areas who have lost one or both parents. Buds of Christ extends support to continue education, to live healthy and build life skills for a productive and empowered life. 

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