I still remember when Jefferson first became a Real LIFE scholar in 2011. He approached me at our Scholar Orientation, shook my hand, and kept thanking me and saying, “It’s a miracle! It’s a miracle!”
A “miracle” for Jefferson was being able to go to university.
Jefferson grew up in a slum in Tondo, Manila, one of the poorest areas in the Philippines. His home does not have electricity or running water. But Jefferson clung to the promise of Jeremiah 29:11, that God had “hope and a future” for him.
For Jefferson, becoming a Real LIFE scholar meant more than just getting his tuition and fees sponsored, it meant the assurance of a daily meal allowance and, more than that, a chance at a better future.
Real LIFE Foundation was established in 2007 with a mission to serve the poor and empower their dreams through educational assistance, character development and community service. With the help of our generous partners, Real LIFE has awarded more than 1,000 annual scholarships and produced more than 200 university graduates.
Without the scholarship, said Jefferson, “I don’t know what is my future. My parents cannot provide money for my tuition fee to continue my college degree, but thank you because [Real LIFE partners] are there to support me. Thank you because you give me hope to continue to fight for life.”
This past April, Jefferson achieved his dream of graduating from university with a degree in BS Information Technology. What once seemed a complete impossibility due to his family’s lack of finances, has now come to pass. Says, Jeff:
“I thank God because there is Real LIFE foundation, sponsors and donors who became my stepping stone. Without them, my dream would remain only as a dream, it’s impossible to come true. I thank God because he set a plan for me, a plan to prosper me not to harm me, a plan that gives me hope and a future.”
Now, Jefferson has a new and bigger dream: a dream to honor God with his life and lift his family out of poverty. “After I graduate,” says Jefferson, “I want to have a good job with a great salary. And when I have that, I will be able to support my parents financially. I want to become a channel of blessing to my family. I want to support my younger brothers and sister in their school allowance and projects. I want to renovate our house and put electricity inside of it.”
Besides financial support, every Real LIFE scholar also receives “LIFE coaching” in Leadership, Integrity, Faith and Excellence. Our goal is not just to provide scholars with an education, but to produce young men and women of godly character who will become leaders in their communities and in the nation of the Philippines. We are already beginning to see this come to pass in Tondo, where Jefferson has now become a role model for the young children in his neighborhood who have seen that the dream of getting a university degree and a better life is, with God’s help, a possibility.
Jefferson’s greatest vision now is “to become salt and light in my community. That everybody will see God in my life, that they will see how God can transform life, from a non-valuable person into a valuable and successful person. I want to share my testimony to represent God’s glory. I want to become a missionary who shares the gospel and makes disciples. I want to change somebody else’s life like how God changed my old life into a Real LIFE.”
by Lynn Nawata (Executive Director)
