Environmental Networking Platform for Children and Youth by SAMSUNG E&A
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BEYOND MY MAJOR |
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by Alesandra Ibobo | 29-08-2018 23:53
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I grew up in Ajegunle a rural area in Lagos, Nigeria. Growing up, I saw a lot of social imbalance in my community, were any one who came out of the community were not regarded as people who had potentials. We were commonly faced with social discrimination and a few who are graduates are seen as underprivillege to live in such community. Getting a degree in my community as at that time was unrealistic because of the hardship. Just a few who finished high school could afford to further for a college degree. Nonetheless, we had brilliant minds and great thinkers, mathematicians and beautiful writers and poets with no platform to showcase their talents.
I had a few friends who were graduates working as factory workers and earn below $60 per month. What about other youth who were not graduates but have great potentials? We were still waiting for a messiah who can sponsor our education to enable us earn as much as graduates did. Aside this, one of the imbalances we had was our environment. We had poor road network, bad road, bad drainage system unhealthy water and every other thing you can imagine. But we were not concerned, we were happy we were alive, the environment was the least of our worries. We believed the most important thing for us is to eat and "dirty no dey kill black man" meaning blacks don't get killed by dirt. But a life changing experience for me was when I decided to attend a seminar in a bid to earn money. I never knew the lectures would be about volunteering and community service, I thought it was just an orientation for a job offer. After the programme I was hoping that, just like every other seminar I attended I was going to be paid after the long talk. I wasn't, instead we were encouraged to go back to our various communities to volunteer towards any cause we were passionate about and change our community. It was the worse thing anyone could do to me, after spending my own money on transportation. When I got back, I started to think if its possible to change my community. Was I really able to do so without any educational qualification, no finance and at my young age? I started to analyze all the things that needed to change in my community from A-Z and soon I found out where to start. I realized other constituencies were better than that of my local government and are provided with basic amenities. I went down to the root cause which is bad governance, something had to be done about this, maybe through advocacy. So I registered as a volunteer coordinator for Forward Nigeria, an organization that advocates for good governance in Nigeria. I used the platform to speak for my people and encouraged them to vote wisely. This was the beginning of my journey to advocacy and community service. I got involved in other organizations which helped me grow professionally and also helped me further my education. Then I got selected as 20th Eco generation Regional ambassador to Nigeria, this gave me a huge platform toake exploit in the environmental space. Now I have been able to impact my community positively beyond my major.
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10 Comments
Nice report Alesandra. I am truly inspired to see how when you and your people were going through discrimination and looking for a Messiah, you took it upon yourself to be a leader for your people and be a voice for everyone in your community. I admire how you broke through the obstacles in your way to try to achieve your goals. Keep up the good work!
Posted 05-09-2018 00:03
Hi Alexandra!
Coming from a poor community has many set backs, for one such communities are not seen an entity for growth. And what is saddening about this is that not many opportunities come their way in order to succeed. This is true especially for the youth where financial aid to study further is a problem.
Being a youth yourself and looking for all options to succeed in life is quite hard. I admire you will to carry on and aid your community whilst aiding yourself with issues of advocacy and governance.
Well done to you for achieving such a milestone! I hope you continue to set an example for the other youths in your community and around the world!
Lovely report!
Posted 01-09-2018 14:45
Hello Alesandra!
Change is needed in this society and this change could be started from our commitment. Your work has shown great dedication and each report was very inspiring. When our endeavor adds up I really do believe that change will certainly come to this society!
You are doing an incredible job :)
Thanks for sharing
Posted 31-08-2018 23:16
Hello Alesandra, there are always reasons and motives for individuals to start something new but there is a drastic change and turning point in here : whether you are a main actor to trigger and make such change or not.
So far, as I have read your reports and ideas, you have truly done well and kept your route good.
Though I am a mentor for you and other regional ambassadors, I cannot deny the fact that I also grew up and learned quite a lot from your reports so far.
Thanks for your reports, and keep up with your work :)
Posted 31-08-2018 22:33
@Nishan
Wow, I thought it happens only in this part of the world.
Posted 30-08-2018 17:29
@Nikolay
Thank you so much, we need to tell our stories otherwise people will tell it for us.
Posted 30-08-2018 17:24
@victor, the stories are similar with every rural communities in Lagos. When I go out to places like Victoria Island, they expect me to dress a certain way, speak a certain way and walk with my heads bow down. But one shocking thing about growing up in the ghetto is, we learn to speak like the Britains or Americans, we learn foreign languages, we dress like we have travelled abroad, we learn etiquette, we have a very high self-esteem.... We've watched all these in movies and we learnt them without attending classes.
Posted 30-08-2018 17:22
Dear Alesandra! Your story is inspiring!
Posted 30-08-2018 06:53
I am very glad to listen all about your dedication that you have given to change your community. Likewise many youths are lazy in our country,Nepal and they lack energy to change the society.After all its our own duty to make them active and engaged them in social creation activities.
Posted 30-08-2018 01:22
exactly bro i also grew up At Bariga lagos state where the young are seeing nothing less than the old are everyone are said to be the same. even the young are expected to think the way adults do.
Posted 30-08-2018 00:51