Educate YouMeWe's Mark Bell Scholarship

We have our first graduate. He was known as Akira to mask his real name as he was still under twenty which is the age of consent in Japan.

His actual name is Shizuma, and we are very proud to report that he has graduated with his degree and landed a job as a preschool teacher.

He is the oldest of five children and due to parental abuse and economic constraints, he was placed in the orphanage as a teenager. As the siblings grew older, he left the orphanage to return to his biological mother's home to help her with the other children.

While he was chosen as a scholar for the Mark Bell Scholarship as were the other recipients, his circumstances were slightly different. When he left the orphanage, he lost the funding the government provided for higher education. 

He knew, from his experience in the orphanage, that he wanted a profession helping children.

He was able to graduate and will start his job training this month.

I was invited to attend the day of the graduation and was very moved to find that four other scholars from a different group he also belonged to, all aged out youth, came in suit and tie, one in a kimono, to celebrate his success. The camaraderie is touching. They all came from different orphanages but this experience of fostering them through higher education has created friendships long after they graduate. They are sharing their youth together. That made the day even more special.

Thank you for your help You, Me.....We did this.

Regards,

Michael Perry-Clemons