Doctor Abio AyeliyaFrom Tampula, UER, Ghana
2004 Scholar Doctor was the first student sponsored, before Africa’s Tomorrow was a non-profit focused on women.
Doctor comes from a very poor family in a rural farming village in northern Ghana. His father had two wives. I say, “had” because one of them, Doctor's mother, passed away during my second year there. That left just one woman to care for his 13 brothers and sisters, most of whom were not as lucky as him to have been able to attend secondary school. Yet these prospects didn’t stop Doctor, he has been able to break the mold. By the time I left, Doctor’s amazing work ethic (this boy knows how to work!) had elevated him nearly to the top of his class. Upon my departure he started at a new boarding school in the city and, for the next three years, repeated secondary school. His continued determination led me to solicit funds which then allowed him to continue even further to Eastern Oregon University. His growth continues daily and his dedication to helping Africa and the world is strengthened with each new experience. Because of the opportunity that we have provided him, his future is now full of possibilities. After Doctor graduated from EOU he began working at SLCC and started his own non-profit organization, “Sabu Help”, aimed at helping poor, rural Ghanaians through micro-financing and student loans (see SabuHelp.org). |
Maxwell DanlogoFrom Navrongo, Ghana
2006 Scholar Maxwell is from an area just outside of Navrongo in the Upper East Region of Ghana. I was his teacher in Chiana (a small village nearby where he came to board and attend secondary school) for one year but it only took a day to realize that he was an exceptional student - one of the brightest and most dedicated I had while I was teaching there.
He wasn’t only a great student though, he was also a great person, always coming around my home to help out or just to talk and ask questions about the world - why things are the way they are, how they can be improved, etc. Maxwell is both an exceptional student and an amazing human being, devoted to enriching the future of Africa, searching for the means needed to do so successfully. He graduated from the OHSU nursing program in 2011, turning his dreams into reality. He was committed to getting an education and using that education to promote positive change within his country. Unfortunately, like so many promising students around the world, Maxwell had the potential, desire, and capacity, but lacked the resources necessary to fulfill his dreams. Now Maxwell has completed his nursing degree from OHSU and he has passionately continued his quest to become a health-care worker, working as an RN. He hopes to earn a Master's Degree and return to Ghana to begin helping the people there, proving that we didn’t simply invest in one person, it was an investment in the future of everyone. |