- M
Hello! We (Matt and Christy Taylor) would like to commend to you our friend, Grace Muransi. Grace just completed her third year of college and now has the opportunity to complete her last year of studies at Pacific Adventist University to become a secondary school teacher.
Grace is the daughter of our main co-translator, Muransi, who has worked with us for sixteen years to translate the Bible into his own language, Nukna.
Grace is the first woman from among the Nukna people to ever attend university, and she is also just the third Nukna person overall. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could help Grace become the first Nukna woman to ever complete a higher education? Her education will not only benefit herself and her family, but also her entire people group.
Her father, Muransi, has been an integral part of the Nukna Bible translation team for many years, and by giving so much of his time and skills to this project, he has given up the chance to grow and sell coffee and other cash crops to earn extra money for his family, or to pay for his daughter's education. We want to honor Muransi's sacrifice to bring God's word to his own people, by helping him send his daughter to university.
Would you consider helping us to achieve this goal?
Pacific Adventist University (PAU) is a premier Christian institution of higher learning and research in the Pacific. Check it out at http://www.pau.ac.pg/. Grace just completed her third year at PAU and has been doing well in her studies. The new school year begins next month (the school year runs from January to December in Papua New Guinea, because we're south of the equator). In February Grace will teach high school biology and chemistry for one month as part of her practicum, and then she will return to PAU for her last year of coursework.
Our current goal is to raise enough to send Grace for the last year of her degree program. Once she graduates, she hope to return to work with her people, the Nukna, in the areas of literacy and education.
Grace wrote this letter after receiving funds for the second year of her studies:
I was worried when I was accepted to attend PAU, because I knew my dad would not have enough money to help me continue my studies, but it was like a miracle happened, and I was surprised that families on the other side of the world (I'm speaking of all of you) would contribute to my tuition fees. I thank God that I am privileged to have all of you. Because of you I don’t face any school fee problems like many other students do. I have seen some of my friends struggling, even though their parents are working, but I am really blessed to have you all. I am very happy and continue to pray that God will bless you all in your jobs and your families. Even though I don’t know your faces I am happy and speechless and can say that you people are making it possible for me to achieve my dreams, and I know that we are all family in Christ. I am enjoying my studies here, and I am proud of every one of you for having a kind heart and giving generously to help poor people like me.
I did my teaching practical last year in a primary school in Port Moresby, and this year I did my teaching practical in a village called Wanigela. We taught all the illiterate people in the village, and I was happy to see my students, who were mothers and young ones, actually reading and writing now!
Here is a bit of my story, of how I became the first person from my village to attend university. I grew up in a very remote part of Morobe Province where there is no road access, and the people there struggle to send their kids to school and to make money. I am one of them, but when I was in primary school I got very high grades and received Dutch awards in every year from grade 1 up to grade 8, which made my dad and family proud of me. My mom and dad do not have regular jobs, they are subsistence farmers, but somehow my dad struggled and found a way to send me to boarding school to attend grade 9 and 10. The school was very far from home - we walked for a full day down to the coastal area and then got on a boat to go to school. But often we didn't have enough money for the boat, so we used to walk along the coast instead. Walking through that area was very dangerous because there are robbers on the road and a very big fast-flowing river which we had to cross over. But by God's grace nothing happened to us during that time. At the school there were dangerous situations, such as fighting going on almost everyday, but I managed to perform well in my classes, and I was selected to a national high school, which is known for being a school of excellence, where all the brightest students in the province are selected to attend grades 11 and 12.
I am like a pioneer, being the first from my village to make it to national high school, which has made my family really proud. I thank God that my dad and family had enough money to help me complete the two years there. When I went to the national high school, I flew by plane for the first time and came to town and it was the greatest feeling ever. But of course I missed my family and was homesick. When I finished grade 12, I applied as an education major at PAU. I am also the first person in my village to make it to university.
May God bless you all!
LOVE YOU ALL,
Grace Muransi
Grace is the daughter of our main co-translator, Muransi, who has worked with us for sixteen years to translate the Bible into his own language, Nukna.
Grace is the first woman from among the Nukna people to ever attend university, and she is also just the third Nukna person overall. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could help Grace become the first Nukna woman to ever complete a higher education? Her education will not only benefit herself and her family, but also her entire people group.
Her father, Muransi, has been an integral part of the Nukna Bible translation team for many years, and by giving so much of his time and skills to this project, he has given up the chance to grow and sell coffee and other cash crops to earn extra money for his family, or to pay for his daughter's education. We want to honor Muransi's sacrifice to bring God's word to his own people, by helping him send his daughter to university.
Would you consider helping us to achieve this goal?
Pacific Adventist University (PAU) is a premier Christian institution of higher learning and research in the Pacific. Check it out at http://www.pau.ac.pg/. Grace just completed her third year at PAU and has been doing well in her studies. The new school year begins next month (the school year runs from January to December in Papua New Guinea, because we're south of the equator). In February Grace will teach high school biology and chemistry for one month as part of her practicum, and then she will return to PAU for her last year of coursework.
Our current goal is to raise enough to send Grace for the last year of her degree program. Once she graduates, she hope to return to work with her people, the Nukna, in the areas of literacy and education.
Grace wrote this letter after receiving funds for the second year of her studies:
I was worried when I was accepted to attend PAU, because I knew my dad would not have enough money to help me continue my studies, but it was like a miracle happened, and I was surprised that families on the other side of the world (I'm speaking of all of you) would contribute to my tuition fees. I thank God that I am privileged to have all of you. Because of you I don’t face any school fee problems like many other students do. I have seen some of my friends struggling, even though their parents are working, but I am really blessed to have you all. I am very happy and continue to pray that God will bless you all in your jobs and your families. Even though I don’t know your faces I am happy and speechless and can say that you people are making it possible for me to achieve my dreams, and I know that we are all family in Christ. I am enjoying my studies here, and I am proud of every one of you for having a kind heart and giving generously to help poor people like me.
I did my teaching practical last year in a primary school in Port Moresby, and this year I did my teaching practical in a village called Wanigela. We taught all the illiterate people in the village, and I was happy to see my students, who were mothers and young ones, actually reading and writing now!
Here is a bit of my story, of how I became the first person from my village to attend university. I grew up in a very remote part of Morobe Province where there is no road access, and the people there struggle to send their kids to school and to make money. I am one of them, but when I was in primary school I got very high grades and received Dutch awards in every year from grade 1 up to grade 8, which made my dad and family proud of me. My mom and dad do not have regular jobs, they are subsistence farmers, but somehow my dad struggled and found a way to send me to boarding school to attend grade 9 and 10. The school was very far from home - we walked for a full day down to the coastal area and then got on a boat to go to school. But often we didn't have enough money for the boat, so we used to walk along the coast instead. Walking through that area was very dangerous because there are robbers on the road and a very big fast-flowing river which we had to cross over. But by God's grace nothing happened to us during that time. At the school there were dangerous situations, such as fighting going on almost everyday, but I managed to perform well in my classes, and I was selected to a national high school, which is known for being a school of excellence, where all the brightest students in the province are selected to attend grades 11 and 12.
I am like a pioneer, being the first from my village to make it to national high school, which has made my family really proud. I thank God that my dad and family had enough money to help me complete the two years there. When I went to the national high school, I flew by plane for the first time and came to town and it was the greatest feeling ever. But of course I missed my family and was homesick. When I finished grade 12, I applied as an education major at PAU. I am also the first person in my village to make it to university.
May God bless you all!
LOVE YOU ALL,
Grace Muransi