Help our Dunia finish her degree!
Donation protected
Dunia Martiza Garcia is currently a student at the University of Arkansas who was brought here from Honduras by an organization to earn her degree. She is a brilliant student who is studying Kinesiology. Dunia has been living and studying in Northwest Arkansas for nearly 3 years. When she isn’t studying, she is busy training to be an amazing athlete at Crossfit 540.
Dunia was born and raised in Honduras in a small village called Yamaranguila. In this village, there was no electricity or any type of social media to communicate. She lived in a very small house with 11 siblings. In such a small living space, many of them had to sleep on the floor.
When she was younger, Dunia’s plan was to start working and help support her family with food and other needs. She never dreamed of going any further than that because of the poverty she was living in. Her family did not have any funds to even support her through high school. Her plan was just to finish 6th grade.
While she was in elementary school, she met two people who gave her hope and they said they would support her to finish high school. This time was very rough for her. Her family was falling apart, and some started to hate her because she was given the opportunity to finish school and learn another language. They would call her names and threaten her.
Throughout most of her high school years, she lived in fear of her own family. Her father started to drink excessively and abuse her family, targeting Dunia and her mom. He would beat them up until they could not walk. Her own father threatened to kill her several times. She even tried to commit suicide multiple times, but decided to run away instead.
When she left home, she took nothing with her other than the clothes on her back. From there, she found other homes to live in temporarily. Most homes that she stayed in weren’t good homes either because the families were also falling apart.
Since she was taught English, Dunia started working as a translator. She started making some money to support herself and then would send half of her money to her mother to support her other siblings because she wasn’t able to do it all by herself.
She finally graduated high-school and thought this was it. There was just no way for her to go to college, she thought. Until on graduation day Dunia was surprised by some people that she knew since she was very young. They told her that they would help her pay for college and have her study in Arkansas. She never even dreamed of starting college or going to a different country. For her, that was huge blessing.
She is currently in her junior year of college at the University of Arkansas and has one more year left before attaining her bachelor’s degree.
The Organization that helped bring her here has had some financial difficulties. The sponsors haven’t met their goals, and Dunia’s tuition has fallen way behind on payments.
Dunia’s crossfit friends want to help! Help us collect the money she needs to pay her tuition and to keep her here so she can finish her degree.
Our set goal is $18,200.00. This amount will cover her tuition that has been past due, Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 term, and enable her to register for Fall 2016 classes. This will bring her up to date on her tuition fees, however, she would still have to come up with money for her last year. The university needs to have the money by May 2016.
If she doesn’t come up with that amount by the end of May, she could very well be sent back to Honduras without finishing her degree that she is so close to completing. All of what she has worked so hard and the all the people that has helped her along the way to this point would be of waste. Anything will help so please donate and help our Dunia.
Below are some thoughts quoted from her that we’d like to add:
“To be honest, my years in college have been very rough. After being abused for several years, it was really hard to live a normal life. I live in fear even now sometimes, I still fear of getting close to people. I have met some great people throughout my college years and have really helped me and encourage me to not quit and just keep pushing. Other things that I have struggled with is having a family. Sometimes I feel like I have nobody, but I know my friends are always there for me and my second parents from the United States. Not having a car has been one of my biggest struggles too. Having to depend on people almost every single day is very hard. But now, I just hope and pray that once I get to pay school and able to graduate I will have a nice job and be independent on my own. I want to help other people who need help just like how I got help when I needed it the most. Although my life has been pretty hard, God has placed amazing people in my life who are always there to help and encourage me. All this and the things that I have gone through have made me stronger and more determined to do bigger things and hopefully one day I can help someone who is also struggling or going through the same things.”
Dunia was born and raised in Honduras in a small village called Yamaranguila. In this village, there was no electricity or any type of social media to communicate. She lived in a very small house with 11 siblings. In such a small living space, many of them had to sleep on the floor.
When she was younger, Dunia’s plan was to start working and help support her family with food and other needs. She never dreamed of going any further than that because of the poverty she was living in. Her family did not have any funds to even support her through high school. Her plan was just to finish 6th grade.
While she was in elementary school, she met two people who gave her hope and they said they would support her to finish high school. This time was very rough for her. Her family was falling apart, and some started to hate her because she was given the opportunity to finish school and learn another language. They would call her names and threaten her.
Throughout most of her high school years, she lived in fear of her own family. Her father started to drink excessively and abuse her family, targeting Dunia and her mom. He would beat them up until they could not walk. Her own father threatened to kill her several times. She even tried to commit suicide multiple times, but decided to run away instead.
When she left home, she took nothing with her other than the clothes on her back. From there, she found other homes to live in temporarily. Most homes that she stayed in weren’t good homes either because the families were also falling apart.
Since she was taught English, Dunia started working as a translator. She started making some money to support herself and then would send half of her money to her mother to support her other siblings because she wasn’t able to do it all by herself.
She finally graduated high-school and thought this was it. There was just no way for her to go to college, she thought. Until on graduation day Dunia was surprised by some people that she knew since she was very young. They told her that they would help her pay for college and have her study in Arkansas. She never even dreamed of starting college or going to a different country. For her, that was huge blessing.
She is currently in her junior year of college at the University of Arkansas and has one more year left before attaining her bachelor’s degree.
The Organization that helped bring her here has had some financial difficulties. The sponsors haven’t met their goals, and Dunia’s tuition has fallen way behind on payments.
Dunia’s crossfit friends want to help! Help us collect the money she needs to pay her tuition and to keep her here so she can finish her degree.
Our set goal is $18,200.00. This amount will cover her tuition that has been past due, Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 term, and enable her to register for Fall 2016 classes. This will bring her up to date on her tuition fees, however, she would still have to come up with money for her last year. The university needs to have the money by May 2016.
If she doesn’t come up with that amount by the end of May, she could very well be sent back to Honduras without finishing her degree that she is so close to completing. All of what she has worked so hard and the all the people that has helped her along the way to this point would be of waste. Anything will help so please donate and help our Dunia.
Below are some thoughts quoted from her that we’d like to add:
“To be honest, my years in college have been very rough. After being abused for several years, it was really hard to live a normal life. I live in fear even now sometimes, I still fear of getting close to people. I have met some great people throughout my college years and have really helped me and encourage me to not quit and just keep pushing. Other things that I have struggled with is having a family. Sometimes I feel like I have nobody, but I know my friends are always there for me and my second parents from the United States. Not having a car has been one of my biggest struggles too. Having to depend on people almost every single day is very hard. But now, I just hope and pray that once I get to pay school and able to graduate I will have a nice job and be independent on my own. I want to help other people who need help just like how I got help when I needed it the most. Although my life has been pretty hard, God has placed amazing people in my life who are always there to help and encourage me. All this and the things that I have gone through have made me stronger and more determined to do bigger things and hopefully one day I can help someone who is also struggling or going through the same things.”
Organizer
Dae Lor
Organizer
Springdale, AR
