The Search for a F.O.G. Student

So I have a week to look for a qualified student FOG (Friends of Guatemala) scholarship. It´s not easy here in this community to find many qualified applicants. That, however makes it easy, if you know some good ones are, b/c there are so few! Let me explain this. Friends of Guatemala is a group of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Guatemala who donate money to FOG every year. All PCVs can look for a student in their community well deserved for receiving the scholarship, and apply. At the end, all the money is divided among all applicants. Unfortunately, this is only for kids in school, and not those doing diversificado or university studies. Anyone in the US can donate to FOG and if you specify for Plan 2 of FOG, it can go to a specific student or project (ie a student in university). The advantage of picking a younger student is that they can keep receiving money until they graduate from school. The catch? A volunteer has to apply for them every year. And if I am not replaced with another volunteer after completing my service? No problem. Another volunteer nearby can apply for extensions.

I know I would pick Ani, the student I was teaching English to last October-January during her vacation. Unfortunately, she´s in diversificado and she´s graduating this year, and will start university in January. So she´s out. I can still apply for her for a plan 2 scholarship, but that would mean hitting y´all up for fondos! hehe which I might eventually do. What happens if I pick an older student that will graduate? Well, if I am not replaced, the fund dries up. A volunteer from another community can only apply for an extension for an existing FOG applicant, not a new one.

I was considering Yariks, the girl who works in the comedor and Doña Ana and Don Efraín pay for her school expenses. However, she has only one more year to complete her school, and she´s not as needy as some others around here. Besides, I feel bad hooking up someone in the same house where I work. So I asked her to find some other students who had really good grades. She came back with a guy in her same grade! But I met him, and he is definitely very intelligent and has very good grades and participates in extracurricular activities (which is rare here).

I got his contact info and he left. Doña Ana was talking to Choli, a lady that lives nearby here, and later they approached me about her daughter. Her daughter is in 4th grade in Boquerón, a small community about 2 miles from Oratorio. She is going to school there because Choli can´t afford to pay for her and have her go to school here in town. And she has great grades apparently. This seems like the winner here. Let´s see what happens; I´m waiting to meet her daughter and her report card.