I´d like to thank everyone for all encouragement you´ve given me for completing my marathon training. The marathon will be this Sunday, Oct 12th and I am soooo excited. I feel ready and pretty confident I will finish before the course closes at 6 hours. It´s been a wonderful accomplishment just getting to this point, and my sister Jenn assures me it will feel so good to cross the finish line i won´t even care what my time is. I expressed earlier that doing this marathon is something that i have done for myself, a way to spend my free time in Paraguay, to enjoy the beautiful country roads, a way to bond with other volunteers and set a good example for Paraguayans, especially the youth I work with. I never really considered the thought of fundraising for anything, but since my siblings have raised thousands of dollars for the leukemia foundation when they ran their marathons the thought has occured to me that I could have possibly done something to help out with an organization. That´s when i came up with the perfect solution.
I am not out to start a big fundraising effort with only one week until the marathon but there is a way I can tie marathon training directly into my Peace Corps experience and finalize this accomplishment with your help. If you´ve ever read one of my blogs and thought "I wish i could do something to help out Paraguayans" or "gee, i wish i had the opportunity to contribute to what Jill is doing right now but I just don´t think Peace Corps is for me" then, perhaps this will be just what you´re thinking of! In addition to the work that i do directly in my site, I am part of a committee that meets every other month in the capital, called The Gender and Development (GAD)Committee. At meetings we discuss and brainstorm ways to promote gender education and gender equality in Paraguay. We come up with ideas for projects realating to this topic and take these ideas back to our sites to implement the projects with community members. Every year the committe organizes and puts on a leadership camp for youth from all over the country. One the best things GAD does is give annual scholarships to youth. I´ve included a description of this project below:
"Each year, the Gender and Development Committee (GAD) of Peace Corps Paraguay, along with two local organizations, work together to provide at least 50 underprivileged youth with both technical training and educational scholarships. The technical training includes workshops on leadership, self-esteem, personal finance management, gender empowerment, and networking. The scholarship program includes four different educational levels available for financial aid:
High school level ($100)
Vocational level ($150)
Trade school level ($250)
University level ($500)
The PATF program aims to help young, female Paraguayans pursue their education in diverse fields of study and increase their ability to achieve financially independent and fulfilling lives. Since 2004, the program has awarded 143 scholarships to female Paraguayan youth throughout the country. This year, in order to promote gender equity, the program has expanded to include 10% of the scholarships for male beneficiaries.
You can help Peace Corps raise funds to enable bright, young Paraguayan youth to further their education. Even the smallest contribution can make the biggest difference in raising the tuition that Paraguayan youth need for his/her education. By clicking on the following link you will find further details on the program and information on how to donate to the project:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-187
Thank you for your generosity"
These scholarships would not be possible without the contributions of family and friends of Peace Corps volunteers back home. Any donation will make a big difference and will help me stay even more motivated on race day. Now, I am not only running for myself, i am running for gender equality and to make a contribution to this wonderful scholarship program. Use the link above to make your donation and let me know if there is any other information you need or would like. Thank you for your help and your support! I´ll post my marathon pics and finish time next week!
