Help Arielle pursue an exciting Education opportunity in Sweden!

Hello everyone! My name is Arielle Chibunga, aged 15. I am a Grade 10 learner currently schooling at Pretoria Technical High School, aiming to study Construction Engineering. I am also a refugee seeking help. My mother does not have a proper income and we are already unable to pay school fees. Thankfully, I was given an exemption because I love school and study!

Recently, I received an opportunity of a lifetime. I was chosen for a Swedish exchange program due to my position in the top ten academic learners of my grade. I feel I was blessed with this opportunity.

I was born on 5th February 2008 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). My mother was 32 or 33 years old and had already had my two brothers, at 4 and 2 years old. When I was 3 months old, my mother, myself and my brothers left DRC and made the difficult journey overland to South Africa. Surviving this journey was a miracle. But it is still difficult being a foreigner and refugee.

At Sunnyside Primary School, I tended to blend with the background, acquiring a near perfect attendance and comfortable grades. Later at Pretoria Technical High School my motivation to study skyrocketed. After reaching the top ten academic ranking of my grade I had grown a love to learn and study. But I would have never imagined receiving an opportunity to travel and study in Sweden.

Being in the Swedish exchange program came after joining the art club in Grade 8, becoming a media monitor in Grade 9 and developing an outstanding academic reputation and performance by Grade 10.

However, financial problems continue to put roadblocks in my life. I truly cannot afford to lose this opportunity but it seems as though I cannot afford to take hold of this opportunity in the actual sense either.

Nights are filled compromising one thing or another, whether it be having no electricity, no lunch box or taking money for school projects even though it might cost my mother transport money for her low paying job.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all.

Arielle (9 September 2023)

*** Funds generated here will be used primarily to fund her program. R20,000 (approx. $1000) is solely for the plane ticket, estimated at R18,122, and anything over that amount will be used towards clothing and pocket money for Arielle, considering it will be Winter in Sweden at the time of her travel. ***