Everyone in Azizanya, my coastal community and the surrounding villages want their kids to be educated at Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation. I knew nothing about the transformation going on in Ada East District. My own sister, Antionette developed a keen interest in the Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation programming. Surprisingly she was taken and I began to see her doing well academically.

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How would a 15-year-old girl, a seventh grader, motherless and left in the care of her grandmother be given such an opportunity? I asked myself when I accompanied my junior sister to the Musical Village for a programme. I honesty fell in love with the Musical Village. 

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I had decided very early that I want to pursue higher education in medicine and my grandmother always encouraged me to work hard and achieve my goals. But realities in life ran athwart and there has to be a miracle for such dream to be realized.

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I was ecstatic when I got admitted into the Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation. Dreams do come through! On my orientation day, my grandmother was so proud.  She smiled when I walked past her in the Joanna & Sidney Poitier Pavilion. Although she is gone, but I know she is in heaven smiling down at me. 

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Each new day I live, every air I breathe, is a testimony of positive change in my life. It is also a reflection of the social evolution taking place in my coastal community. A revolution of community members to fight adversity and change their destiny through the acquisition of knowledge. The tools towards acquisition of knowledge which the Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation have fully paid for.  

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Where would I be? The daughter of a fisherman and with my mother deceased. There was no looking back. I could progress well and transition smoothly to the next level, primarily because of the strong foundation, Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation is giving me. Thanks to Brigitte who is so passionate about the beacon of hope and knowledge to future generations of rural African children. It’s amazing to see the change in just a few years.

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This is a testimony to the resilience and endeavor of an ordinary girl. Dispelling popular stereotypes often attached to rural African child., an inhabitant of Azizanya, where illiteracy, diseases and unemployment abound. 

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This is the change so acutely needed to break the cycle of poverty. My heart is filled with happiness and all tears of sorrow are now tears of joy whenever I tell my story.