The 2006 Akili Dada scholars
The first Akili Dada scholarships were awarded to the four young women featured here. As excerpts from their applications below reveal, this first cohort of Akili Dada scholars are incredibly talented, ambitious, and hard working young women.
2007 essays
Here are excerpts from the latest essays by these scholars:
Activities-
In a way the choir has build my social skills in a very great way. For example during the National Music Festivals I made a lot of new friends with people from other great schools.
During the course of the August holiday, I am glad to say that I did community service in a hospital.
Self-Confidence-
However, time has taught me that whatever challenge I face in life I should always aim at being as brave, strong and thoughtful as I can in every aspect of life. It is by standing by what I believe that has brought me this far in the journey.
With time we slowly adapted to the fact that in life we should not be rigid because this may make us blind to the greater good that someone else has.
The future is greatly dependent on the goals we set in our day to day life.
It is necessary for me to review and make short term goals to go with my long term goals.
Most of the time, I feel inspired by the Akili Dada Organization. It is a great joy to the students and their parents when they know that somebody somewhere cares for them and is ready to lessen their difficult job of paying school fees and clearing them once and for all. I know the good feeling that one gets, and it is a great thing because this forms a stepping stone to achieving the best of the results.
Influential People in Their Lives-
My aunt, who I have always referred to as my mother, has also been a great inspiration. When I made the decision to change she was my moving drive she was very hurt when I told her about it but she decided to help me walk through it everyday. She has given me several talks and also the love I need.
In school, my desk-mate is my guardian angel; she talks to me and also trusts me despite our past. She inquires about things before passing judgment depended on my previous mistakes.
During the school term my greatest inspiration has been my grandmother. The only thing that keeps her alive, as she says, is the joy of knowing that someone needs her. She is always there when we need her and when she can she always goes an extra mile. She has inspired me mainly in the way that she has gone through her sickness. She always takes sometime everyday to come out of her room to come and talk to us. She is the reason why I am strong and still holding on to life.
In everything she does she always puts God first and does it to the best of her ability. She may not be the richest woman in the world but she is the greatest woman in my life and that is why I love her so much.
Future Goals/Dreams-
I have a dream that someday I will be happily married with my very own family to take care of. I have a dream that someday I will take some children into my own care and give them what they deserve and that is the best. I dream to become a great inspiration to many girls in my life by what I will have done and through the lessons taught through what I did not do in my life.
In the future I hope to become an engineer with great distinctions.
In the future I have always wanted to open my own children’s home but before I do that I will be doing community service at institutions for children for as long as I can.
In future, I would like to pursue medicine as a career then later on specialize in surgery and I particularly wish to do neurosurgery.
2006 essays
Here is what these four young women wrote in their first year as Akili Dada scholars.
“I wish to become a computer engineer and I pray to God to help me attain my goals so that I may too help another person in the near future. I am born in a family of five children being the fourth born. My mother is the sole breadwinner and she really struggles to see us in school studying. The firstborn is mentally handicapped while the second is in university. The third and fourth-born are in high school while the last-born is in primary. Due to lack of enough money, my mother pays for our school fees in turns. My father is unemployed due to the closedown of the firm he was working for in 1999. This gave him high blood pressure and he has to stay under medication.”
“I am the youngest child in a family of four girls. I am an orphan. I live with my grandmother. She does not have a constant supply of financial income but she is a great inspiration. My older siblings are all unemployed and therefore they cannot assist me financially. The subjects I enjoy most are mathematics and biology. I also study music. I play the recorder and piano though I just started recently. In the future I hope to play the violin and clarinet. In university I want to major in medicine and minor in arts. In medicine I want to be either a neurosurgeon or a cardiologist, I have not yet decided. In arts I want to do history of music and also instruments. I believe I will make it with determination and perseverance for tough times do not last, tough people do. When I get my masters in university and get a job and am stable financially I will help another girl child go on with her education just as Akili Dada has helped me.”
“My parents have been having trouble paying my school fees but thanks to your efforts I can now concentrate on my studies without having to worry if I’ll go home for school fees. I would like to do medicine or psychology in the future. I am trying to work hard to achieve my goal. My mother, who is my family’s sole breadwinner, is a business woman. She sells clothes in small scale and owns a stall in town. When business is low we find it hard to get some of our basic needs. She also pays school fees for my older sister who is in university and my two brothers who are in secondary school. She also has to buy medicine for my older sister who is permanently on expensive medication. With your help that is one burden made lighter. I am very grateful.”
“My ambition is to become a surgeon in order to save lives and also help other people who are in need in different parts of the country. I know I can achieve this through hard work because hard work leads to success in the end. We are six members in our family. My mother is the sole breadwinner in our family. This has been too difficult for her because she has to pay school fees for all of us and also provide the basic necessities for the family. This has led to a lot of problems due to lack of adequate finances in our family. Thank you very much for offering to pay my fees. I will work very hard to achieve my ambition and also try as much as possible to help the needy in the society. Thanks for what you have done and I promise you that your efforts will bear fruits. Thank you once again for giving me a brighter future in academics.”
"I would like to do a course in counseling later on so as to be able to help people and understand them better. This course will help me in my goal of being involved in charity work especially with children. I would also like to own a talent center where children can study the arts so as to spend their time usefully instead of endlessly watching television or for the underprivileged ones, aimlessly loitering on the street. Due to my family’s current economic status my goals might never be realized. My father lost his job sometime last year. My parents have not been able to pay my fees and also my two brothers and sister’s school fees. One of my brothers has been home for a month due to fees and my other two siblings have also been in and out of school. I know I will succeed not only now but in my entire life if I am just given the support that I need."