Samjhana’s Inspirational Story
When Samjhana Ale was 12-years-old, her mother ran away with another man. Devastated, her father had a nervous breakdown and returned to his childhood home in Gorkha District, leaving Samjhana and her younger brother with relatives in Chitwan District. Before she gained a sponsor as part of the Sponsorship Program, Samjhana struggled to buy food for her brother and herself and often missed school in order to work in the fields for subsistence wages. Fortunately, a generous donor in California heard her story and felt compelled to sponsor this determined girl.
This year Samjhana passed the difficult School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam at the end of tenth grade, required to graduate high school in Nepal. She has chosen to study business and accounting during the “10+2” stage, Nepal’s two-year period between secondary school and university (equivalent to junior college in America). Her ambition is to pursue banking after earning her bachelor’s degree. For $200 annually her faithful sponsor makes it possible for her to live at home with her brother, and for them to have enough to eat while she finishes 10+2. ADWAN’s Ambitious Girls Fund also helps to pay her tuition. Samjhana hopes to sponsor a needy child herself one day.
