Sponsor a Student
ESSA welcomes individuals, churches, or other groups to sponsor students directly with full or partial scholarships. Whenever possible, we encourage sponsors to communicate directly with their sponsored student, sharing prayers, updates, or even visits to build lasting relationships.
Please read the profiles below of some of the students at ESSA still seeking scholarship money to help cover tuition and housing costs.
If from among the profiles below you wish to personally choose a student to sponsor, or wish to pledge regular giving for a student, contact lynn@essa.ac.za. We also welcome donations to a general bursary fund. These are distributed through an ESSA committee that reviews applications on the basis of financial need, academic standing, and other considerations.
| Name: Bento Mutilima | Name: Rose Gamedze |
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| Year: Third |
Year:
Second |
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Family: Unmarried |
Family: Married, two daughters ages 17 and 25. | |
| Home country: Mozambique | Home country: Swaziland | |
| When Bento was five years old, his family went into hiding from the communist regime that was ruling Mozambique. During this time, his father was asked to preach for a series of radio talks that were broadcast across Mozambique over freely distributed radios. This put the family in grave danger, but led to an explosion of Christianity across the country. Bento came to faith through his own father's preaching, and by age 18 Bento had joined his church in evangelism outreaches to the many remote Mozambican villages who have never heard the gospel. He came to ESSA to be equipped to return to his home country and serve in evangelism and leadership training. | Rose taught English and religious studies to grades 8-10 for 26 years before coming to ESSA. Her husband was also a high school teacher before becoming a pastor in 2000. While he completes a master's degree in marriage counseling, she is furthering her studies to better prepare her as a pastor's wife, Christian teacher, and lay counselor. Regarding her calling, she says, "I wait on God to tell me what to do, and I just throw myself into whatever God tells me to do and enjoy it." She does throw herself into service: eagerly asking questions in class, teaching women in her church, and teaching Sunday School. As a first year student she started an ESSA prayer meeting that has grown to meet three times a week. |