Anyway, this blog post is once again not about us, but it's about another member of our church that has been with us from the start, and her name is Domi. She'll be majorly embarrassed about this posting, but that's tough luck to her, as we like to harp on about how certain people are awesome. And I mean that in the proper mind-blowing sense of "awesome", not the watered-down version that people like to use today (e.g. "Two hotdogs for a dollar? That's awesome!").
Domi has been accepted into Vanguard College in Edmonton, which is a place that is very close to our hearts. Not only is it Christina's alma mater, but a lot of the young men and women that have come over to help during our "I Love My City" projects have studied there, and some have gone on to study at that college as a result of our projects. This is a great thing, as we need more younger, dynamic people to look after Generation Y. Old fogies like us in Generation X can find them all a bit mystifying, so the more help the better. And this is also where Domi comes in, as she's not just great with the younger kids but can really hold her own with the older youth as well. There would be plenty of training opportunities in Slovakia if Domi was Catholic... but since she follows the Protestant Christian path, then those opportunities are very thin here. In all, Domi's moving to Canada would not just beneficial for her, but for us as well.
It took a lot of persistence on Domi's part in order to be able to go, and we sometimes had to apply a measure of poking as well when things seemed to get to be too much for her. First, she had to take an English test that would allow her to enter the college, which meant money that she didn't have. Once more as a church, we took the decision to believe in this young lady and so we helped her financially in taking that test. Unfortunately, the first time around she failed, but the second time around (and under harder conditions, such as a lot more noise in the room during the test) her marks were accepted by Vanguard. This means a couple of things. First, she has to be supported financially for the year, for books, food and whatnot. Accommodation isn't an issue, as she'll be staying with the head of the college (that's just how great she is), but she'll have to prepare for the -40C cold that Edmonton likes to have on a frequent basis. Domi will probably be able to work a part-time job there like most students do, but the more financial backing from us, the better. If you're able to give towards her day-to-day living, don't hesitate to visit our PAOC website and hit the "donate" button, with the funds tagged "for Domi". For the day-to-day tuition, contact Vanguard College at info@vanguardcollege.com.
In finding out that she was accepted, Domi shared her testimony. She went up to the lectern with two pages in hand, but ended up talking enough about her life that it would probably fill a novella. She's come through a lot, as her parents had a lot of problems with debt and general anger at the world and at some points, violently with each other. Her mother didn't handle money very well, and it wasn't helped with her dad's gambling and abusive behaviour, where he would threaten Domi's mum in front of her.
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| Domi sharing at our church, The Bridge |
Her perseverance with her family and her crying out to God for protection and strength has brought her to this point, and that is to follow her dream in going to Canada and receiving the education she needs in order to keep on doing what she does best, working with young kids and youth. To us, she'll be a great loss to our church for the duration that she's away, but she'll be an even greater asset when she returns.
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