Birthday: Sponsorship #: 2017-00-100JM

Mina is almost eighteen and she is so very happy that Pastor Johel let her go to school pending a sponsor because now she has passed and is moving on to the high school! She comes from the village of Gwo Balanse near Galette Chambon and she has a very large family that has suffered a great deal. Her mother died in a house fire last year that destroyed everything they owned. It was really hard for her family during that time. Mina has four sisters and seven brothers and Pastor Johel agreed to let most of them go to school this year in order to help their father out with the difficulties of raising such a large family by himself. Mina tries to help him as much as she can with the smaller siblings. Mina has big dreams of becoming a nurse one day. Her favorite subject is mathematics and her favorite thing to do when she is not in school is to do the laundry. With so many siblings and most of them boys, they have quite a bit of laundry every day! She likes it though because she can find a quiet place under a tree with her bucket and soap and scrub away while she sings and thinks about things. Some people don’t understand why Mina doesn’t just quit school because she is almost seventeen and in the seventh grade. However, in Haiti, many children in large families have to take turns going to school. Mina had to wait until her three older brothers had been through three years of school each before she could start because her parents couldn’t afford to send all of them to school at once. She started the first grade when she was ten years old. She went to school for three years and then she had to sit out for two years so that some of her other siblings could go to school. During that time she studied her lessons all the time so that she wouldn’t fall too far behind. She is determined to finish one day so she can become a nurse and help support her family. This is why it is HUGE that she is moving on to the high school!