Seen here looking about three years younger than he is today (in a three year-old picture).
I have mentioned little Victor before. He's a kid at the orphanage (thus little Victor and not big Victor, da boss). He's not so little anymore. He's fifteen and almost taller than I am. He came to us after being our neighbor and participating in devotionals and going to church and when his family moved away they asked if he could stay. He was about 11 at the time. Unfortunately, there was one thing that was going to be a major obstacle for Victor's future: school.
Victor had never been allowed to go to school. Because of timing of when he came here had to wait for the next school year to roll around (can't enroll in the middle of the year) and start first grade (can't skip grades easily). Surprisingly, he was not the oldest first grader at school, but as he and I have talked he has said it was and is struggle for him, mainly because of the shame involved.
Well, Victor has worked his tail off, is reading great (for learning a year ago) and about halfway through the year we decided that he would take the national exams for seventh grade at the end of the year. This would allow him to enter eighth grade next year if he passed. He would still be pretty unprepared for eight grade, but we've done this a time or two before with kids and they usually pass eight grade on the second try (which is better than being stuck in third grade as a 16 year-old).
Victor and I have been studying intensely for the exam, and he's been working with a leader from our church who is a teacher to prepare for the grade seven exams. He will be taking the exams in a testing center with lots of other older folks/ adults that are trying to pass school. Fortunately, maybe, we've heard a rumor that the department of education is just going to pass any adult (including Victor) that can read because the country is lagging in improving adult literacy numbers, and this is a benchmark they need to meet, so they're going to pad their numbers.
The short story is that, even though we've been studying for 4 months, Victor is woefully unprepared. He's highly capable, but covering 5 more years of info in four months is really hard. And the exams start today and go till Thursday.
You can say that it is a horrible injustice that he wasn't allowed to go to school. In my opinion, don't pray for justice, because what is just is for Victor to fail the test because he is woefully unprepared. PRAY FOR GRACE on behalf of Victor, the test proctors, the people grading the test, and this crazy rumor that everybody will pass. Our God is big and merciful and can make this happen. Thanks for your prayers.
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