Martha Jarquín-Nurse

In My Own Words June 2015 Hello everyone, my name is Martha Lorena Jarquin Jarquin, one of the many girls who are part of this great family, BECA.org. I will tell you the story of how I got to knock the doors of a house that opened a way to me for a better future. I live in a town from Matagalpa, which is called Eskipulas, where the biggest economic productivity is the coffee and the cattle. Since I was a child I learned how to fight by my own. Thanks to my parents I started school from the kinder garden to high school. I remember my mom doing her tortillas, cuajadas, and her cosas de horno. Selling all those, my brothers and I used to buy the school tools. I stopped selling when I was 13 years old.  I finished my elementary school. Next, high school came up and some difficulties with it, but I faced them with the help of God and my family´s. When it came last year of high school I couldn't believe that it had got that far. The day of my promotion I saw all my family really happy since I was the only one of ten siblings who had got there.  The year 2011 arrived so I decided to take the admission test at UNAN, I chose Nursing, Chemistry and Pharmacy but I failed. I went back home since I had tried but I could not make it. I, then, took some English courses which I finished with no problems. My older sister was saying to me not to worry, that God knows why he does things and that perhaps He had something better prepared for me. Then, the godmother of my nephews called my sister and told her that in Matagalpa some people were sharing information about scholarships for people with low economic resources. I went the day when I had to fill up the scholarship request. I remember that Walter Hunchak and Rosita came, they asked a few questions to me and later they said to me “Welcome to BECA.org” then the computing course came. After helping in the School Guanuca in Matagalpa, I began my professional nursing technical major.  I remember when we visited the campus of UPOLI with Antonio. There in Estelí, the first week I did not have where to stay so I wanted to quit everything. I called Maryury and told her everything that was happening with tears falling from my eyes. She looked for a solution and Ann Karina called me later and told me that one of her aunts in the Trinidad-Estelí would give me the chance to stay. After that, I was traveling for a week trying to find a place we could rent and there were also Mercedes, Alba and Ana Zárate who were also sponsored as me. Then the year 2014 came when we reached our Professional Nursing major. Thanks to BECA.org, the sponsors who gave me the opportunity to continue with my studies, and thanks to God, as well, I was very lucky for a job was offered to me; this was in Rio Blanco though. My major has opened doors for me and I am currently working in a pharmacy store and study chemistry and pharmacy on Sundays, up this moment I am doing well in my classes. I am very grateful for the support that I received during these three years I was in the intensive course, both as the sponsors of the group as BECA.org. Thanks to them my parents are very proud of me. Thank you BECA.org for teaching me everything what I know, thank you for leading me in that way and for supporting me during this one. BECA.org is my family and with it I know we can defeat poverty with education since we are a different generation... *Translated by Oliver Chavarria (June 2015)