A Lily among thorns.

Amaka, can you please give me 200 Naira? I asked.

She looked at me with a familiar face. A face that says “I don’t think I want to sleep with men to feed myself, only to feed you too”. Amaka is the girl that told me to “use what I have to get what I want”

Before she could say anything mean to me, I quickly added: “I want to use what I have to get what I want”. She smiled and handed the money to me.

My first business started immediately. Selling Zobo drink.

My first week in business wasn’t so great. My “friends” all bought without paying and I was left with no money to continue. But that didn’t stop me, I continued regardless and by the third week, I started to make a profit.

Were there days I felt ashamed selling zobo?

Yes!

Were there times I felt like this is not the life that I wanted for myself?

Yes!

But, I just couldn’t get out. I had nowhere else to go and I knew there was NO WAY I was going back to Kaduna State.

But then, how did I even end up here?

This is my story

Sincerely, a lot of things happened when I was growing up, I can’t sit here and tell you I know the challenges were preparing me for the work I currently do. But what I can tell you is that, somewhere along the line I realized that I cared too much and gave up of myself easily trying to help others. I had a rough time growing up.When I was 16, my biological father died, I transitioned from daddy’s little girl to no “daddy girl”. My life took a drastic turn and I struggled to finish secondary school.

After secondary school, it became harder to feed at home because my mum took ill right after my dad died and my brothers all had to drop out of school. My family started some conversations here and there about finding me a husband. At 16, I really didn’t want to be married so I ran away. I ended up on the streets of Lagos and lived with prostitutes, drug addicts, yahoo boys and young people who sold their kidneys for money. I had 5 near rape experiences, one from my uncle and four times from random men in Obalende. I was kicked out from one place to another because I really didn’t want to join the lifestyle on the street. I slept in Cyber Cafés and uncomfortable places that left so many scars on my body.

When I realized I couldn’t help myself I decided to start a business. By the age of 19, my Mum died and that left me with my three lovely boys. My life generally was hard as a teenager and that sort of made this work I am doing a lot easier, because I genuinely understand what people are going through. I see a teenage girl struggling through life and I totally get it. I walk into the barracks to a lot of widows and I understand exactly what these women are going through. And it’s the same with working with public schools, without trying, I totally understand the needs.

In a way, this journey prepared me without my consent. If I was given a choice to choose that life and end up here, I probably wouldn’t but I did go through a lot of challenges and that has made me the person that I am today. I am grateful for that.

I remember a friend of mine in 2011 asked me to talk to a teenage girl he felt needed some “talking to” because of the kind of life she was living. I didn’t jump at the offer honestly because I didn’t know what to tell her but when I finally did, I remember telling her my story without really saying it was about me and she was sober. She held my hands and said “Thank you”. A lot went on after that and when I finally got into the University, I felt the urge (I usually say it's divine) to talk to younger girls about my life and the challenges I faced and was facing. I started a mentoring club for teenage girls, I did that for a while but, It didn’t make sense at the time and everything was about teaching the girls to be morally upright. One day, on my way to school I met a boy who then turned everything around. He was going to school with torn uniforms, socks and sandals. I followed him to the school right beside the University of Lagos and that opened my eyes to the education sector and then my work with children started.

The goal of Beyond the Classroom is to improve literacy for children in public primary schools. We have the “Set for School Project”, which is focused on providing free school supplies for the children in our selected schools. The After School Project allow volunteers to teach the children, Math, English, Dance, Literary and Debating, Art and Craft, etc. The “Inspire Teaching” Project is our Annual teacher-training workshop for all our schools. We are doing this because we believe that the teachers need on-going training. We also organize annual events for the children; like Christmas parties, world oral health day, world malaria day, and graduation ceremonies etc.

A lot of times, especially when I was still in the University. It was difficult running projects in primary schools, mentoring teenagers and also struggling to attend lectures, do my assignments, tests, exams and other extra-curricular activities I was involved in. I was a member of AIESEC while I was in school. I got in the Carrington Fellowship and we ran projects in all these organizations. It was hectic and I honestly wanted to give up.

There were also times when we needed to run projects and we didn’t have the funds for it. So many times, we had to move a project forward because of the lack of funds and I would sit alone and ask myself if this is what I really want to do with my life. Recently, I felt the same way knowing how difficult it is to get fund for a cause one is passionate about. I think it’s normal for everyone to have such feeling at certain times in their lives.

The greatest reward has been the responses of the children, the parents and the schools we work with it. They appreciate the work we do and that is the greatest reward. Knowing that our little acts of kindness actually does go a long way inspires us to do more

I like to always say "find what you love the most and do it. Because once you find purpose, only you can stop you".