What $10,000 Could Do For My Community by Sylvia

What $10,000 Could Do For My Community by Sylvia - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

What $10,000 Could Do For My Community
My community/culture is Mennonite/Christian. Hidden among us are things that happen that should not happen, and many of our lives are impacted adversely from the results of emotional trauma and sexual abuse. Abuse that is often swept under the rug and hidden in an effort to look good to others in the community. Thus, it is perpetuated generation after generation. Many of us do not know how to change the dynamics of our families from trauma and abuse to something healthy, wholesome and thriving.
If I were to receive a $10,000 grant, I would use the money to fund my education in a Christian University. My goal would be to become a professional counselor who can go back into my community and bring God’s hope and healing to the many women and girls who do not get the help they need because there are very few professionals (especially women) that are also Mennonite. When our women and girls need help, they are often hurt even worse and further traumatized when they seek help, because they go to people who are not trained in what to do with these traumatic past events. These people care, but they do not know what to do with the shocking things they hear. They tend to say hurtful things like “All you need to do is forgive your abuser. If you still have a problem, it must be because you haven’t really forgiven him/her.”
To positively impact my community/culture, I would become the best professional Mennonite/Christian counselor I could become, then try to bring compassionate, Godly caring, leading them to the healing that only Jesus can bring, to women and girls among us who are dealing with traumatic abuses that have left them crippled and unable to enjoy healthy, wholesome family life. I would want them to experience hope for a better life, a thriving, open, joyful life, a life where the traumatic memories are healed, and where the past is no longer dictating unhealthy patterns of relating in the present.
Because I do not have the resources to fund college (I have a very low income), the $10,000 would help to make it possible for me to have a far greater impact for good in my community. Without the training I would receive in college, I would be in danger of hurting and hindering growth in my clients rather than facilitating healing. With the grant, the impact would be more wholesome joy, more love, more peace, and more healthy family life! By God’s grace, there would be a hope and a future for my community (one individual at a time)!