International Essential Oils Day

Radha Kumari is a young college student from South Africa who faced many obstacles to achieving her educational dreams. Radha was born into economically desperate circumstances that put her at a great disadvantage. She would be the first in her family to attend college—if she could find a way to pay for it.

That’s when she found YUWA, a Young Living Foundation partner, and discovered soccer. Through the school’s soccer-based curriculum, she grew into both a confident learner and coach. “When I’m playing futbol, I feel strong, not just in the field but also in life,” she says. Supported by a scholarship from the D. Gary Young Global Leadership Fund for Higher Education, Radha is now fueling her university studies at a university in Spain, where she’s been working on a service project to bring solar power to rural villages like the one she grew up in.

Zukanye Madala wanted to do something to help people experiencing homelessness in her community of Eastern Cape, near Cape Town, South Africa, but she didn’t know how. She was a college student on a tight budget, but every day she observed five boys rummaging through the garbage cans behind her family’s flat, searching for food. She talked to them, made them sandwiches, and found out they were without homes, living in nearby shacks. Unfortunately, they were far from the only children living the same desperate life. Many people would have faltered at the immense responsibility this knowledge presented, but Zukanye was undaunted.

With the scholarship she received from the D. Gary Young Global Leadership Fund for Higher Education and the problem-solving skills she was learning at Tsiba Business School, Zukanye talked with local grocery store owners and hit on a win-win solution: feed the local unhoused community with the day-old food the owners would otherwise throw out. For almost a year now, two days a week every week, even while busy studying, Zukanye picks up and distributes the food to the unhoused people she’s come to know and befriend.

Being raised in an orphanage and being abducted by rebel militants at age seven would break most people. Flavia Apio isn’t most people. Flavia embraces her present with hope, determination, and an effervescent smile, rejoicing in the freedom she now has as she studies hard at Uganda Christian University. With the scholarship money she received from the D. Gary Young Global Leadership Fund for Higher Education, she’s pursuing a bachelor’s degree in human rights, peace, and human interventions. Flavia is making it her life’s work to help others, starting with the victims of human trafficking she’s met through her volunteer work with Hope for Justice.

“Everyone has a right to belong somewhere,” Flavia says, “and I can make a difference.” Because of the support she’s received through the Leadership Fund, she feels empowered to teach life skills to the girls Hope for Justice serves and help them to belong and be strong.

Kenneth Reyes lives in Chongon, Ecuador, the third of seven siblings. His mother, Melva, works hard to support her family by providing laundry services but is able to work only part time because her youngest son, Jeremías, was born with Down syndrome and needs extra care. When Kenneth left public school and joined the Young Living Academy in the eighth grade, he immediately felt hopeful for his future and like he finally belonged. “If I hadn’t had the opportunity to study at the Academy, I would be lost,” he says.

When Kenneth became the first in his family to attend the Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte with a scholarship from the D. Gary Young Global Leadership Fund for Higher Education, his course toward a career in journalism became obvious. “The Young Living Academy not only changed my life but also my family’s lives,” he says. “I will always be grateful for the entire world of opportunities the Young Living Foundation and this scholarship has opened for me and my family.”