A Dream Deferred No More

Hi,

I'm Steph, the second from the right in the picture. My sister Nailah, the second from the left, is an amazing woman who needs your help.

She's 5 years older than me, but you probably can't tell from the picture because she's always so full of life. However, her easy smile belies the emotional pain that she has suppressed in order to help others for more than 35 years.

Our mother died tragically when Nailah was only 15, and this sent our family into a sudden upheaval that nobody was prepared for, so Nailah and I, along with our two brothers, were sent to live with relatives. Nailah had just been accepted to study theater arts at the High School for Performing Arts, but the commute from New Jersey (we had been living in Brooklyn until mom died) was too much, and she had to let that dream go. In fact, Nailah, who had been an 'A' student, took a GED instead of finishing high school because the disappointment of not being able to attend Juliard, coupled with the struggle of dealing with our mother's death, was too much to bear.

Our mother had been a nurse, so Nailah decided to pursue a career in nursing so that she could help people, just the way mom did. This natural philanthropy coincided with a spiritual journey that eventually lead her to work as a nurse in Yemen. Nailah later traveled to Egypt, where she has since started a business teaching English to local children. The business, Say it in English, has been able to aid dozens of Egyptian children in their quests to gain a quality education that will pave the way for a bright future, in a little more than one year. 

Unfortunately, the Egyptian government has very strict rules regarding teaching and educational services, so Nailah needs to earn qualifications to teach so that she can keep her business open and continue to help Egyptian children's educational development. Ultimately, she will need a master's degree to fulfill the government's requirements, and this will also make her better able to meet the wide range of educational needs of her student base. She's willing to study online through a British university, but she will need to earn a CELTA certificate in order to qualify for a master's program in TESOL/Linguistics. She's already started this phase of her education, but we don't have the funds to cover the cost of the master's degree.

The total cost of her education will be $17,000, and every little bit helps. Please help my sister realize this dream so that dozens or even hundreds of Egyptian children can realize their dreams. We need to raise the amount by March 31, 2016 in order to pay her tuition costs for the program starting in March.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes