Education for Rukhshona and Her Village

Our exchange student, Rukhshona Ghanieva, grew up in a small village in Tajikistan without running water or a postal service. Education of girls was and still is discouraged. However, for Rukhshona and her family, education was the highest priority. At the age of 17, she was awarded a Flex scholarship to travel to the United States. As an exchange student at Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas, she earned high honors while living with Nancy Parker. She later moved to Vernonia, Oregon, and attended Vernonia High School while living with the Tierney family.

She dreams of going to university after she returns home in June but realizes she is fighting significant challenges, both culturally and financially. And even though she is extremely frugal, she needs your help to fulfill this lifelong dream.

She is actively applying for full scholarships to pay for college in Azerbaijan and elsewhere. However, even with a scholarship, she will still need about $2400. Even with a full scholarship, applying and admission to the university have additional costs. For example, she needs to take the English proficiency test, which is required for college and costs almost $300. Financially, that is prohibitive for her. In Tajikistan, $200 is the equivalent of a full month's salary. In addition to the $300 for the required English proficiency test, some schools require that she have $1000 in savings for emergencies, and transportation to and from the university ($500). She plans to earn a living allowance by tutoring languages. But to do so, she will need to pay between $300 and $500 to take a course and get certified.

Rukhshona wants to go to college so that she can promote education and economic justice for women and girls in Tajikistan. She will be the first person in her family to go to college if she is able to raise her financial goal and get a scholarship. She is fluent in four languages and rapidly acquiring more. She has strong math skills. She hopes to study business so that she can help community members develop micro-enterprises, improving the village economy and promoting education for women in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan is a very poor nation. The economy is so anemic that 50% of the gross domestic product comes from Tajik exiles sending home money to their families. Both of Rukhshona's parents had to work in other countries for most of her life so that she could go to school. Meeting her financial goal of $2400 will enable her to go to college on a scholarship. It will make a major difference in not only her life, but also the lives of the families and women in her village.