
Help Tia Study in Japan
Donation protected
This is Tia. For those of you who don't know her, she is a dispatcher with the Orlando Police. When she's not bossing officers around, she devotes her time working with the media team at Orlando North Church. She's also a massive nerd. She loves to play Go. She is a hurdy-gurdy playing bard in my D&D game. She prefers the chain blades when tussling with a behemoth in Dauntless. She has an unhealthy obsession with the K-pop star Wonho. And lastly, she is in love with Japan. She's traveled there on many occasions and has been teaching herself Japanese for as long as I've known her. Recently even hiring a private tutor to further her studies. Her dream job is to work as a translator.
At the beginning of the year, she applied to the Genki Japanese & Culture School in Fukuoka on a whim, not really expecting anything as it is a rather popular language school and their class sizes are limited. Much to her surprise, she was accepted. Unfortunately, in order to be approved for a student visa in Japan, she is required to have a rather sizable amount in her bank account (about $18,000 for a 1 year visa) to show she won't be a drain on society if she skips out on her school (apparently a rather common occurrence). An amount that she could not realistically save in time for the next semester. Thankfully, she was able to postpone her acceptance until the 2021 school year, giving her until early December of 2020 to save up. She did the math, her goal difficult, but attainable. And she has been saving. She is doing everything in her power to get there. She is working as much overtime as her part time status will allow her. She is donating blood. She is doing odd jobs on Craigslist. She is selling her car. Whatever amount she is lacking at the end, she plans on taking out a loan to cover. She has done everything, except ask for help. I'm not expecting to raise $18,000, not even close to that. I'm just hoping to try and lighten the burden a little bit.
I'm planning on surprising her with this at the start of October, but will be leaving the Gofundme running up until her deadline to apply for a visa.
And because I never pass up the opportunity to embarrass her with this, here's a video from one of her trips to Japan where I noticed an ongoing theme during her video chats.
At the beginning of the year, she applied to the Genki Japanese & Culture School in Fukuoka on a whim, not really expecting anything as it is a rather popular language school and their class sizes are limited. Much to her surprise, she was accepted. Unfortunately, in order to be approved for a student visa in Japan, she is required to have a rather sizable amount in her bank account (about $18,000 for a 1 year visa) to show she won't be a drain on society if she skips out on her school (apparently a rather common occurrence). An amount that she could not realistically save in time for the next semester. Thankfully, she was able to postpone her acceptance until the 2021 school year, giving her until early December of 2020 to save up. She did the math, her goal difficult, but attainable. And she has been saving. She is doing everything in her power to get there. She is working as much overtime as her part time status will allow her. She is donating blood. She is doing odd jobs on Craigslist. She is selling her car. Whatever amount she is lacking at the end, she plans on taking out a loan to cover. She has done everything, except ask for help. I'm not expecting to raise $18,000, not even close to that. I'm just hoping to try and lighten the burden a little bit.
I'm planning on surprising her with this at the start of October, but will be leaving the Gofundme running up until her deadline to apply for a visa.
And because I never pass up the opportunity to embarrass her with this, here's a video from one of her trips to Japan where I noticed an ongoing theme during her video chats.
Organizer and beneficiary
Justin Kraper
Organizer
Oviedo, FL
Tia Duncan
Beneficiary