Daddy’s Little Girl
I am a Daddy’s girl. I grew up in a stable family, I love my parents and two sisters, and have always had a special connection with my father. I’m sure this was a result of my hyperactivity forcing me to be sent outside to play to keep the rest of my family sane! I ended up helping my dad with ton of projects; He taught me how to change the oil in the car, how to build a birdhouse, how to use power tools, how to unicycle and how to learn. Yes, learn.
As a young girl, I took karate lessons twice a week. And an image is etched in my mind forever: my dad sitting in the bleachers of the gym with a huge binder on his lap. I never quite knew what he was doing but during every karate lesson, Dad would work in his binder. He would occasionally smile at us and tell us we were doing a good job, but we still didn’t know exactly what he was doing.
As a young farm boy who married young, he did not get a chance to go through all years of college–but throughout my childhood, he was earning education to make a better life for our family. He is now a successful high school teacher and leader in his field. When we were in karate, Dad was working on his electronics diploma. And since then he has completed his Bachelor of Education in Adult Education, received two designations (Health Care Property Administration and Certified engineering technologist) and multiple certificates.
My dad exemplified the success in learning and if he could do it…couldn’t I? It was often the boost I needed in the middle of the night as I worked on my graduate degree.
Two years ago, I found myself babywearing my 6-month old son and running after a two-year old toddler as I worked on papers late at night with the belief that somehow completing this degree was possible. And it was! My dad exemplified the success in learning and if he could do it…couldn’t I? It was often the boost I needed in the middle of the night as I worked on my graduate degree.
It must be hard to push through the challenges of learning when very few examples may exist, and it is even harder when children are growing up facing additional barriers to learning, like a lack of food or having to spend half their day finding water.
This is one of the reasons that I love being part of the work of World Hope; because I know that when healthy development takes place, a child can learn and grow up to change their world and community. That was my dad’s hope for me, and it’s now my hope both for my own sons and for children in vulnerable communities around the world.
Gifts to The Hope Fund support World Hope programs around the world, including projects that create access to or strengthen education, such as Project Konsae or Early Childhood Development.
When we provide the gift of education, we open the door for a child to grow up and be emowered to set an example of learning to their future children!
