Richard

Richard, whose friends call him Rio, lives in Bangladesh. Growing up, Rio’s family had a lot of trouble. Specifically, they had great economic hardship when his father left them. His mother worked tirelessly to maintain all the costs of the family; seeing this pressure on her caused him pain and has served as a driving force of motivation to excel in school.

Rio received Jesus as His Savior in high school and shares that this experience “changed his life from darkness to light”. He then became involved with Young Life through his Bible study group. As a leader, Rio leads a Bible study and a journalling group and helps lead weekly club. His hope is to “deliver the Word of God to his non-Christian brothers and sisters.”

As a recipient of the Developing Global Leaders scholarship, Rio is studying social and political science at a local university. As a self-proclaimed life-long learner, Rio hopes to come to new understanding about his country and culture so that he can continue to be a blessing to the people in his community both through ministry and his future career. He will be the first person in his family to graduate from college.