Help me Achieve my Dream of Higher Education

My name is Ana, and I am from El Salvador, a small and beautiful country in the heart of Central America.

Since graduating from high school, I have immersed myself in the world of work, determined to forge my path with determination and effort. I started as a library assistant at the school where I grew up, where I learned the importance of hard work and dedication, although the modest pay barely covered my basic needs, I needed to gain work experience.

After a year, I decided to be a home tutor. For seven exciting and rewarding years, I helped children and teens improve their grades and assignments. Although each teaching session nourished my soul, because, in addition to having been an excellent student in school, I also love to teach, financial instability was a challenge due to the difficulty in obtaining clients and the low fees I could charge in my town. Sometimes I even did free sessions (and I still do occasionally) just out of vacation when I knew someone needed it.

In 2019 I came to work as an assistant in a dental clinic, where the dentist allowed me to learn and grow. However, the doors were closed due to the pandemic, leaving me unemployed and facing an uncertain future.

I decided to take up tutoring again, this time online, while I looked for job opportunities. That's when I found a remote job in customer service for a hotel chain, through a call center in my country. For a year and a half, I immersed myself in the world of customer service, working six days a week, 44 hours a week.

However, life had other plans. One day, during a routine check-up with my doctor, I received the shocking diagnosis of diabetes, a disease that had already claimed lives in my family. Fear and uncertainty took over me, as I struggled to assimilate my new reality and take care of my mental and physical health.

I needed time for myself, to breathe and accept this new challenge, so I requested a well-deserved vacation. However, my attempts were in vain since the company could not grant them to me. With my heart on my sleeve, I was forced to resign from a job that had meant stability and security.

My supervisor praised my performance and left me open to the possibility of returning in six months. Three months later, I received a call offering me my position again, but this time it was not remote, which meant spending at least 4 hours a day on public transportation, a challenge for my health and my personal goals.

Since then, I have struggled to find remote employment while doing freelance work to cover my medical and living expenses. My desire to continue my education never faded, and when I discovered an online degree in translation and interpreting at a university in Guatemala, I knew it was my chance. I took the entrance exam and got more than 90 percent.

It was September and the school year at this school starts in February, so at that moment, I thought that by February I would have a stable job and could pay the expenses. But it was not like that. I still don't get it.

To cover the annual registration and the first month, I was able to make a loan to a family member. But I need to pay that $270 and cover the rest of the year as soon as possible. Each monthly payment must be paid at least on the 10th of each month to be eligible to receive classes and evaluations.

Annual registration costs $90 plus 10 monthly payments of $180, from February to November. Currently, this represents a financial challenge for me, but I am sure that over the year I will be able to stabilize myself again and from then on afford the next 3 years of my career, whose total duration is 4 years.

My goal is to give back to society with my education and skills and build a better future for myself and my community. Every contribution, no matter how small, will make a difference in my path to success.