Katehrin Bello Martínez

My name is Katehrin Bello Martínez, I am currently 24 years old. A year ago, I managed to complete my professional career degree in Accounting, which has made a significant change in my life and that of my relatives. 

At the age of 12, I started attending the Life Together Nicaragua’s feeding program with the idea of being eligible for a scholarship because I had finished my studies in primary school and was heading to high school. At that time, the education scholarship program was very popular in the neighborhood. Starting high school and being able to enter a university was a somewhat complicated idea for the economic stability of my family since it was my brother and I attending school at the same time so receiving a scholarship was my only hope of a better education and future.

Because I had high grades at that time we thought I could immediately receive a scholarship, but the disappointment we had was that the quotas were full and that the way to apply was totally different since this recognition was mostly given by perseverance and discipline. However, we didn’t let the disappointment discourage us, we made the decision to do whatever was needed to get one of these sought after scholarships. I attended the feeding program daily with my brother and marked our attendance with the hope of being able to receive a scholarship. 

In the middle of that year, a fun day trip with a group of missionaries took place and I was chosen to participate in the day’s activities of church, swimming, water slides and Tip Top chicken. It was on this fun day trip that I met the people who decided to give me the opportunity to receive a scholarship that would allow me to have a better education. It was a great commitment and honor not only to myself, but also to my parents for the sake of my future. And that’s how I continued with my studies. 

They were very difficult stages, somewhat stressful and worrying. Being a young teenager brings with it many new emotions which must be controlled so as not to put our future at risk and not make wrong decisions. I was able to carry out my high school years in a calm way since I always had great people from the scholarship program who were always aware of my mental, spiritual and professional development. I managed to finish high school in 2019 with the highest grade in the group and I had the opportunity to be the first student in the group of Life Together Nicaragua scholarship recipients to be the class Valedictorian and deliver my senior speech and give words of gratitude at that time. A great pleasure and honor to represent Life Together Nicaragua and my community of Cristo Rey. 

New opportunities opened up and with it the issue of choosing our next stage. The university career. Before I had completed my high school, I had serious thoughts of dedicating myself to the world of medicine, but after understanding that this career was not for me, I opted for a career, accounting, which I had not heard 100% of what it was about, so I took it as a challenge. Being able to dedicate myself in the future to a career of great importance in the country was something that caught my attention. Thanks to a new set of godparents, my dream of university became a reality. 

At the beginning of my university career, I received a medical diagnosis. Concentration problems and hyperactivity was something that played against me. That’s right: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, haha, it was a funny thing, but I learned to cope with it. The time passed quickly and I was just waiting for the moment to finally do my professional internship. Thanks to Life Together Nicaragua, I joined an accounting firm to be able to do my hours of service as my career asked me to do. It took about 1 year to complete my hours of service. Then I received a job offer from that same firm which left me very grateful. The day came to defend my degree and I achieved an excellent grade with my classmates which guaranteed us the delivery of our degree. My fight had finally paid off. I received my graduation degree in Accounting in December, 2024. 

I managed to achieve my goal thanks to a wonderful team at Life Together Nicaragua that saw a future in me. They saw a girl who wanted to be a great woman in the future and that was for me one of the best things that could have happened to me in this life. I am infinitely grateful to Life Together Nicaragua and to each of the people who are in charge of giving a future to a child, an opportunity to a young person, and unconditional love to each human being who is part of this beautiful foundation.