BECA DESERTION #3 . . . (and why I feel bad about it)

Another student, Ena Miranda, has left the BECA program. Why? She failed a course in her Laboratory Clinician career and then failed the make-up exam. In this neck of the woods, that means "you're out."

I feel kinda bad about Ena. You see, BECA asks all of the students to keep us informed of their studies. The students send us monthly e-mail reports. Also, we read their blogs to try to spot any signs of trouble.

In Ena's case, her monthly reports seemed normal. Her blog, however sparse, seemed normal.

We try to emphasize to all the BECA students to let us know if they are running into some kind of difficulty. And we try to visit them at school.

Try, shmy.

Well darn it, try is just not good enough and is not going to cut it. In Ena's case, we didn't pay her a personal visit at school.

Nicaraguans are proud people and don't like to admit when things aren't going their way. Well, come to think of it , who does?

Lesson learned. I'm really sorry, Ena. We were asleep at the wheel and missed it. And now I have to live with the fact that maybe there was something we could have done to help you out before.

If there is any consolation Ena has helped us improve the BECA program. From this point forward it will be BECA policy to visit every student at school every month. No exceptions.

Living the Life of Luxury in Nicaragua (Huh?)

Well, it isn't always luxurious living. But it sure feels like it every morning when I am greeted at my front door by Candida.

Candida brings a cart load of fresh fruit to my door every single morning (except Sunday). 

Mangos, bananas, pineapples, papayas, you name it.

. . . AND front door service to boot. 

¡Living la vida fruta in Nicaragua!

What Happens When a Student Quits

Yesnery Montoya is the second BECA student to call it quits this year.

In her official withdrawal form, Yesnery cited "personal problems" and asked us not to share any details with third parties. We will respect her wishes.


I thought I would take advantage of this turn of events to explain BECA procedure when we hear a student wants to quit:

1. BECA does everything it can to understand the student's decision -- meaning talking to the student, talking to their family, talking to their teachers, talking to the school, if necessary -- whatever it takes to see if we can help in some way.
2. If BECA determines that "it is out of our hands" we ask the student to sign an official withdrawal letter and hand in their BECA ID card and student manual.
3. BECA advises the sponsors of the withdrawal and redistributes the balance* of their scholarship to another student(s) currently in need of funding.

*Note: BECA keeps a running balance of every student's scholarship. At any given time, if a student drops out, we can apply the balance to someone else.

Yes, it seems that the money already spent is lost for good. But think of it this way. Thanks to the generosity of BECA sponsors, Yesnery was given a shot she otherwise wouldn't have had.

And BECA likes to think that this opportunity alone is worth something and is money well spent.

Thanks, Yesnery, for giving it your best shot.