Ballard resident Darrell Kirk has been helping Seattle Central Community College students receive an education through the Nelson Mandela-Graca Machel Scholarship program.

Kirk and his wife, Elizabeth Devereaux, a teacher at Wing Luke Elementary started the Nelson Mandela-Graca Machel Scholarship six years ago. Machel is Mandela's wife.

Through the scholarship, the couple has funded the education of six students.

"Seattle Central gave me a chance to go to school," said Kirk. "Education is so unattainable for most people. Money keeps people from going to college."

He found the college and its diverse student body to his liking. Kirk studied Japanese and later got his bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Washington in 1992. He also studied photography at the Seattle Art Institute.

Kirk gave credit to Seattle Central Community College for his academic success and wanted to find a way to give back to the school.

From hundreds of scholarship applicants, 15 finalists are chosen and only one is awarded the $2,500 grant, which pays for tuition, fees and books for one year.

Unlike other scholarship programs, applicants are not required to have a high grade point average.

The scholarship is given to a student who has extreme hardship, a record of community service, and their future goals should further commitment to public service later on. They must also submit reference letters.

The awardees reflect Seattle Central's students who come from all over the world. Some of the past recipients have been from Africa and Vietnam.

Kirk enjoyed the diversity while attending Seattle Central.

"I was a country boy from Indiana," he said. "I appreciate diversity. Whenever you said something at Seattle Central, you have 15 other perspectives."

One awardee, Shermaine Singleton, said her family was having financial problems and the grant came at a critical point in her education.

Singleton is majoring in social and human services/chemical dependency counseling. She wants to help children who have drug and alcohol issues.

Kirk also owns a company that represents clothing manufacturers in Canada and is the publisher of Coffee News, a newspaper found in many restaurants.

Photography is one of Kirk's interests, a skill he developed while stationed in Okinawa as a U.S. Marine from 1981 to 1986. There he was assigned as General R.R. Porter's personal photographer. He also did assignments for Pacific Stars and Stripes newspaper.

When he got out of the military in 1986, he went to China with his camera, visiting Xining, one hour west of Xian by airplane. Xian is where the famous terra cotta soldiers were discovered.

In Xining, he found a small Muslim town surrounded by mountains.

"The people were so nice, the mosque was a hub of activity," Kirk remembered.

While in Xining he met Wo Fu Chen.

"Fuchen invited me into his home and to photograph his son," said Kirk. "We had dinner."

He photographed Fu Chen with his son while the two embraced each other, sitting in a chair of their home, bathed in available light from a window.

Last year, Kirk took that picture back to Xining to find Fu Chen.

"I found a woman who knew everyone in the town, she spoke English," said Kirk.

Fu Chen now had a daughter, Mei Ling Ma, a sophomore at the No. Five Middle School, where students have to pay for their education.

Although Ma was the second best student academically in her school, the father, a laborer for the city of Xining, had difficulty paying for her schooling.

When Kirk found out it only cost $220 in American money, he gave the girl cash for her tuition.

Ma will be moving onto college at a cost of $1,200 a year, a minimal amount of money compared to American universities.

Kirk is paying for her college tuition.

"For us it was nothing," he said. "I talked to friends and family who wanted to help out."

Eventually, Ma wants to become a police officer in her town. The department has a women's division.

"It's prestigious to be a female police officer," said Kirk.

Kirks has traveled to Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea with his camera and has a portfolio of documentary photographs that mark his travels.

Money made from prints sold at past exhibits, including at Senior Moose in Ballard last year, all went towards the Nelson Mandela-Graca Machel Scholarship program.

Dean Wong can be reached at 206-783-1244 or via email at deanw@robinsonnews.com