Estrella dreamed of becoming a nurse. When she was 12, a Xela AID scholarship made it possible for her to attend school. Life was especially tough for her mother, who was raising three children alone. So when Estrella turned 16, her mother asked her to quit school and go to work. “ I had to abandon my dream,” Estrella recalls through tears. When times improved, and with Xela AID’s help, she returned to school and became first in her family to graduate high school. And she was among the village’s very first young women to graduate from college. Estrella is living her dream as a nurse. She says, “ I can’t wait to go to work each day!”
Economic Development by the Numbers
Leadership Program individual learning hours to develop business skills as a yearly average: 10,080