Thia

*Vocational Scholarship gifts recur once a month for 12 months. At that point, you will have fully funded your student's training!* “You must be strong now. You must be brave,” my mother whispered as she held me tight. “I know you’re scared. I am too, but you have to grow up right now to survive.” I looked into my mother’s kind face and nodded. My parents had told me what to do if it ever came to this. Be brave. We will come for you. If the money lenders ever got tired of waiting for repayment of my parents’ debt, they would send agents to settle it. And I would be the settlement. I would need to obey, keep my head down, and never draw attention to myself. Stay alive. So, I swiped my tear-brimmed eyes with a grimy hand and buried my fear and emotions deep down inside of me. I’d imagined being freed from that horrible pit every moment of every day, but when I saw my rescuers crest the jagged edge of the rock quarry, I was devastated. My parents weren’t with them. The men were kind an