Future Teacher Jijue Kegu

Our One More Year Scholarship Program is exactly what it sounds: we support 500 students from extremely impoverished families for ONE MORE YEAR of senior high school in China. If they graduate and still meet scholarship eligibility requirements, we continue our annual support through graduation.

Jijue Kegu (19) is one of our beneficiaries. BornThrough our One More Year Scholarship in China, Jijue Kegu stays in school and moves closer to becoming a village teacher. and raised in a family of 6, with their main source of income being their parents’ migrant work. In rural China, it is a common phenomenon where many residents go to the city to seek better employment opportunities. Her parents are illiterate due to a lack of educational opportunities in their village. They have lived the realities and difficulties of it, so they make it their life’s mission to ensure their children are as educated as possible. They are quite successful in doing so. Jijue’s older brother has just graduated from high school, her younger sister is in the second year of junior high school, and her younger brother is in the fifth grade of primary school.

As for Jijue, her dream is simple: to become a teacher in their village. When she was in elementary school, a kind teacher inspired her to be passionate about learning and sharing that learning with others. Looking at her family’s state, she cannot wait to be a grown-up and provide income for her family. Since she joined our program, she has felt like that dream was closer to reality. Now, she can dream about attending a good university to become an educator.

In the meantime, she walks home for 40 minutes every weekend to save up on transportation costs. When she is home, she takes good care of her siblings to ease her parents’ burden. Her life, while still young—is full of vibrancy and hope that one day she will provide for her family and inspire her community.