Birthday:  December 16, 2012    Sponsorship #: 2024-00-051HC

DABENS is a quiet and ambitious twelve year old from the village of Galette Chambon who lives with his grandfather along with his two sisters and three brothers – all younger than him. His parents are no longer living and his grandfather takes care of them all himself. His grandfather is a farmer in the village, and he struggles to provide for his grandchildren. Because Dabens is the oldest, his grandfather wants him to go to school. It is tradition in the poor village to send the oldest to school for a while and then give others a chance to go one at a time as they get older. This way, all of the children at least learn to read and write. So now Dabens gets to go to school if he can find a sponsor. He wants desperately to go, but he cannot go if he is not sponsored. Dabens enjoys playing with friends and his favorite thing to learn from his friends who do go to school is mathematics. He is excited to go to school so that he can learn math. When Dabens grows up, he wants to become an engineer as well as a farmer like his grandfather.