Hello, My name is Faraja Deogratias. I was born in Congo, a country in east central Africa. Due to the ongoing war in the country, we had to leave and migrate to another neighboring country for our safety in Tanzania east Africa. We settled in a refugee camp where we resided as refugees for 10 years until my family got selected to come live in the United States in 2007. Life in the refugee camp was hard and challenging and having a quality education was a big burden for parents who couldn't afford to pay for their children's school fees. As refugees, we were living off assistance from UNICEF the world organization that provided food and shelter for refugees. Even at that, life was still hard because there were no jobs to earn money to take care of your family. Furthermore, I have always been passionate about furthering my education and becoming a career woman. I could not achieve that while we were living in the refugee camp, but now that I have come to this country full of opportunities I will do everything I possibly can to accomplish my dreams of being educated. I am in my 3rd year in the university working on my bachelor degree to become an elementary ELL teacher. It has been a great journey so far but also challenging as being a first time mom, a single mom, full time student and worker. With all my challenges, I have decided to remain focused, work hard and persevere until the end because I want to achieve my goals. As hard as it can get sometimes to keep up with my school assignments and taking care of my baby, I have been able to maintain a 3.7 G.P.A throughout the 3 years I have been in school. In addition to that, I have been working as a teacher assistant at an elementary school for 5 years, I have gained so much knowledge and experience which will help me in my future profession when I become a teacher myself. As a matter of fact, I have been working hard in my classes, maintaining As in most of my classes which has been my source of strength and pride. In conclusion, they say nothing good comes easy in life, you have to work hard, be persistent . Additionally, if you persevere with dedication, motivation and diligence you can make your dreams come true. My 1 year old daughter is my number one motivation. She motivates me to work hard in school because I want her to have a better comfortable life for her and I as I work towards my degree. My daughter is one of the reasons why I thrive and work hard in school and life so I can have a better life for her. Getting my degree will be one of my greatest achievements that will enable me to secure a bright future for myself and that of my child. If you want to be successful in life, you must work hard in order to achieve your goals. Personally, I believe education is the key to success and no one can take that away from you because it is your asset to unlock and better your future.

Hello, My name is Faraja Deogratias. I was born in Congo, a country in east central Africa. Due to the ongoing war in the country, we had to leave and migrate to another neighboring country for our safety in Tanzania east Africa. We settled in a refugee camp where we resided as refugees for 10 years until my family got selected to come live in the United States in 2007. Life in the refugee camp was hard and challenging and having a quality education was a big burden for parents who couldn't afford to pay for their children's school fees. As refugees, we were living off assistance from UNICEF the world organization that provided food and shelter for refugees. Even at that, life was still hard because there were no jobs to earn money to take care of your family. Furthermore, I have always been passionate about furthering my education and becoming a career woman. I could not achieve that while we were living in the refugee camp, but now that I have come to this country full of opportunities I will do everything I possibly can to accomplish my dreams of being educated. I am in my 3rd year in the university working on my bachelor degree to become an elementary ELL teacher. It has been a great journey so far but also challenging as being a first time mom, a single mom, full time student and worker. With all my challenges, I have decided to remain focused, work hard and persevere until the end because I want to achieve my goals. As hard as it can get sometimes to keep up with my school assignments and taking care of my baby, I have been able to maintain a 3.7 G.P.A throughout the 3 years I have been in school. In addition to that, I have been working as a teacher assistant at an elementary school for 5 years, I have gained so much knowledge and experience which will help me in my future profession when I become a teacher myself. As a matter of fact, I have been working hard in my classes, maintaining As in most of my classes which has been my source of strength and pride. In conclusion, they say nothing good comes easy in life, you have to work hard, be persistent . Additionally, if you persevere with dedication, motivation and diligence you can make your dreams come true. My 1 year old daughter is my number one motivation. She motivates me to work hard in school because I want her to have a better comfortable life for her and I as I work towards my degree. My daughter is one of the reasons why I thrive and work hard in school and life so I can have a better life for her. Getting my degree will be one of my greatest achievements that will enable me to secure a bright future for myself and that of my child. If you want to be successful in life, you must work hard in order to achieve your goals. Personally, I believe education is the key to success and no one can take that away from you because it is your asset to unlock and better your future.

My name is Faraja Deogratias. I am Single mom of a 1 year beautiful little girl, a full time student and worker. In life, there are ups and downs and we all go through it but overcoming those challenges and coming out victorious is not an easy journey. No matter what life throws at you, I believe there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and staying positive to fight your battle is your main weapon. Being a single mother has not been an easy journey but it has been wonderful taking care of my beautiful 1 year baby girl and watching her grow healthy. I never chose or intended to be a single mom but since the dad never wanted to be involved since I got pregnant, I took it as my own cross to carry and look forward to the blessings ahead. I raised the pregnancy alone throughout the 9 months without emotional or financial support from him. By the grace of God and the positive support system I had at work surrounded by people who showed me love support throughout my pregnancy, made me feel thankful and fulfilled. As a fulltime student and worker, I have been working hard to take care of my daughter and do all I can within my power to provide for her. Single mom life is not easy because you virtually do everything for yourself in terms of caring for the baby and taking care of your finances. Going to school full time and raising my daughter and working full time has been very challenging because so much is expected of me. Even though I have so much on my plate, not once for one day have I regretted making a decision to further my education as a single mom. The financial burden is there to pay for my bills, school tuition and to keep up my personal needs and that of my daughter's. Though it has not been easy but I take God for his provisions and blessings. My family, especially my mom, cousin, and sisters have been my greatest support system in terms of taking care of my daughter while I go to work and school. If it was not for them, I would not have been able to work or go school because I could not afford daycare expenses. As a single mom that is ambitious, my number one priority in life and my main focus is to take good care of my daughter. I want to work hard in school, get my degree so I can have a better life for myself and my daughter. With my financial situation, I could not afford to pay for school tuition, therefore I had to take student loans. I am in my sophomore year and my student loans have piled up which makes me feel like it will be a burden for me to pay them back as a single mom. With the help of scholarship, if I win this scholarship I strongly believe it will go a long way to help me with my tuition as well supporting me financially.

Hello, My name is Faraja Deogratias. I am Single mom of a 1 year beautiful little girl, a full time student and worker. In life, there are ups and downs and we all go through it but overcoming those challenges and coming out victorious is not an easy journey. No matter what life throws at you, I believe there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and staying positive to fight your battle is your main weapon. In 2019 I encountered an adversity that I call a blessing in disguise. I experienced a very dark time in my life that made me stand tall and brave through it all. Having to go through a pregnancy alone, living by myself without the father of my unborn child being involved throughout the 9 months of my pregnancy , no emotional or financial support and at the same time my parents not talking to me for 9 months was a very difficult time of my life. During these challenges, I was working 2 jobs at 7 months of the pregnancy and going to school full time to make ends meet in paying my bills. At some point I felt like my life had been shuttered and my world was crumbling right before me, but because of the faith I had in God and the joy of becoming a mother was the only thing that kept me going. I did not want to look at the negative side of my unborn child's father not being involved or my parents abandoning me to break me down. I looked at the positive side of life and blessings ahead to embrace the gift of life God has given me ( my unborn child). Sometimes I would come back from work tired, would get on my laptop, do my assignments and meditate on my future and that of my child. I would cry, pray and thank God for his provisions in my life and what he has in store for me. The journey was not easy considering what I was going through and my circumstances, I could have given up but I forged ahead until I reached my destiny of delivering my baby girl safely. Monday, September 9, 2019 at 11:45 am was a day of my breakthrough, a day my daughter was born, a day my adversity came to an end and turned into joyful, precious moments. Seeing her the first time and holding her in my arms made me feel like it was worth it to go through that storm and thank God for allowing it to happen in my life. Through that adversity, I became stronger, braver, more confident, smarter, thankful, grateful and most importantly blessed. Overall, I am thankful for this adversity because through it, I could see how God turned a challenge into a blessing and fulfillment.

Hello, My name is Faraja Deogratias. I was born in Congo, a country in east central Africa. Due to the ongoing war in the country, we had to leave and migrate to another neighboring country for our safety in Tanzania east Africa. We settled in a refugee camp where we resided as refugees for 10 years until my family got selected to come live in the United States in 2007. Life in the refugee camp was hard and challenging and having a quality education was a big burden for parents who couldn't afford to pay for their children's school fees. As refugees, we were living off assistance from UNICEF the world organization that provided food and shelter for refugees. Even at that, life was still hard because there were no jobs to earn money to take care of your family. Having an opportunity to come live in the United States was a life opportunity and grace because it saved us from the hardship of refugee life in the camp. As much as parents wanted their children to further their education, due to the inability to pay for their school fees prevented them from achieving that goal. When we got selected to come settle in the US, my parents were filled with joy and fulfillment because they felt we will be better off there and have a good comfortable life and further our education. When we got here in 2007, my main focus was to work hard in school even though I didn't speak English but I had a great vision of becoming successful in my education. I worked hard in all my classes and was able to graduate from high school. I have always been passionate about furthering my education and becoming a career woman. I could not achieve that while we were living in the refugee camp, but now that I have come to this country full of opportunities I will do everything I possibly can to accomplish my dreams of being educated. I am in my 3rd year in the university working on my bachelor degree to become an elementary ELL teacher. It has been a great journey so far but also challenging as being a first time mom, a single mom, full time student and worker. With all my challenges, I have decided to remain focused, work hard and persevere until the end because I want to achieve my goals. As hard as it can get sometimes to keep up with my school assignments, I have maintained a 3.7 G.P.A throughout the 3 years I have been in school.

Hello, My name is Faraja Deogratias. I was born in Congo, a country in east central Africa. Due to the ongoing war in the country, we had to leave and migrate to another neighboring country for our safety in Tanzania east Africa. We settled in a refugee camp where we resided as refugees for 10 years until my family got selected to come live in the United States in 2007. Life in the refugee camp was hard and challenging and having a quality education was a big burden for parents who couldn't afford to pay for their children's school fees. As refugees, we were living off assistance from UNICEF, the world organization that provided food and shelter for refugees. Even at that, life was still hard because there were no jobs to earn money to take care of your family. Having an opportunity to come live in the United States was a life opportunity and grace because it saved us from the hardship of refugee life in the camp. As much as parents wanted their children to further their education, due to the inability to pay for their school fees prevented them from achieving that goal. When we got selected to come settle in the US, my parents were filled with joy and fulfillment because they felt we will be better off there and have a good comfortable life and further our education. When we got here in 2007, my main focus was to work hard in school even though I didn't speak English but I had a great vision of becoming successful in my education. I worked hard in all my classes and was able to graduate from high school. I have always been passionate about furthering my education and becoming a career woman. I could not achieve that while we were living in the refugee camp, but now that I have come to this country full of opportunities I will do everything I possibly can to accomplish my dreams of being educated. I am in my 3rd year in the university working on my bachelor degree to become an elementary ELL teacher. It has been a great journey so far but also challenging as being a first time mom, a single mom, full time student and worker. With all my challenges, I have decided to remain focused, work hard and persevere until the end because I want to achieve my goals. As hard as it can get sometimes to keep up with my school assignments, I have maintained a 3.7 G.P.A throughout the 3 years I have been in school. My 1 year old daughter is my number one motivation. She motivates me to work hard in school because I want her to have a better comfortable life for her and I as I work towards my degree. If you want to be successful in life, you must work hard in order to achieve your goals. Personally, I believe education is the key to success and no one can take that away from you because it is your asset to unlock and better your future. I have been working as a teacher assistant at an elementary school for 5 years, I have gained so much knowledge and experience that will help me in my future profession when I become a teacher myself. I have been working hard in my classes, maintaining As in most of my classes which has been my source of strength and pride. In conclusion, they say nothing good comes easy in life, you have to work hard, be persistent . Additionally, if you persevere with dedication, motivation and diligence you can make your dreams come true.