#userpiecesintoplaces

Hi there!

My name is Sylvia and I'm a Brazilian psychology student who has just gotten an unconditional offer to study at Royal Holloway University of London, starting September 2021. It has always been one of my biggest dreams to go to university abroad, but I never thought I would actually be given an opportunity like this someday, considering my coming from a very humble background. I am the first in my family to ever be enrolled in higher education, and I owe that to my father's determination and resilience. He grew up in conditions of extreme poverty in northeastern Brazil, taught himself the entirety of our national tax system by spending hours and hours on end reading in libraries, and worked his way up to a tax & accounting management position at Thomson Reuters (which he has now held for over 15 years), all the while raising 6 children. Although my family has been extremely blessed to now live in a much more comfortable financial situation than the one I was born in, the political and economic air has shifted, and the reality of our country is no longer a prosperous, hopeful one — especially for anyone looking to work in science. Amidst constant attacks from the current government against universities, human rights, the scientific community, the truth and democracy, I can't help but fear the prospect of my academic future, or of my future in general, as well as my family's. My father is now 68 years old and the only provider to my household, I'm afraid he won't be able to play that part for much longer. So, at 21, it is my responsibility to step in and make sure my little sister gets the education he enabled me to get, supporting them, my mother and myself financially. It is highly unlikely that I'll manage to do that successfully as a scientist in Brazil.

I don't mean to dwell but, If I'm gonna ask you for help, I feel like I owe you a full explanation as to why I need it. I am a late-diagnosed autistic woman, which might sound weird if you have a preconceived misconception of autism engraved in your mind, but the under-recognition of autism spectrum conditions in girls and women is actually a gravely common and dangerous issue that prevents us from having access to support at an early age, thus arising serious consequences for our health and wellbeing. I am not sharing this information in order to "play the victim" or get you to donate from a place of pity, but to explain why I long to work in science so much, and need to be somewhere that will grant me better opportunities. My biggest dream and professional goal is to help girls like me have a happier, healthier, more fruitful experience of the world than the one I was met with for so long, preventing unnecessary suffering through accessible neuropsychological work, while raising awareness to the dangers of misdiagnosis fueled by bigotry in scientific research. The Brazilian government's been pushing deep cuts of billions of reais (brazilian currency) in science funding over the last few years, causing students to lose their scholarships, be forced to use obsolete equipment or stop the research they have been conducting altogether. This scenario makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, to turn dreams such as mine into reality.

That being said, the anual tuition fee for Psychology BSc overseas students at Royal Holloway is of £21,400 —  approximately R$161.427,00 in brazilian currency (reais), which is more than my family's yearly income. At the end of the 3 year course, that amount will have added up to £64,200 — almost half a million reais. If I get a scholarship (the best one available for overseas students is the Reed Inovation one, which awards the winner £5,000 a year), I would still be expected to pay R$371.131,68 (£49,200). Unfortunately, there is no way me and my family will be able to afford all this, and that is why I have started this fundraiser. I don't expect to reach the full goal in donations until September, but I would never forgive myself if I didn't try, as even half of the amount would already make a huge difference and perhaps allow me to actually go.

Thank you SO much if you took the time to read this up to here, I will be forever grateful for any help I can get, even if you just share this!

Here’s my Paypal link.

Hope you have a nice day 💚✨

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