They were everywhere— on the streets begging, in the market stealing, at the prison fighting. Even more disturbing however, was the fact that they were just children.
In my neighborhood, people give birth to kids in numbers they can barely cater for. These kids in their quest for survival engage in criminal activities, resulting in an alarmingly high rate of juvenile delinquency.
Having witnessed several cases of jungle justices carried out on these underprivileged kids, I pondered day and night on what to do to save their futures, until I came up with an idea– education. I opened a free school where I taught the kids basics in mathematics, English, and moral ethics. In no time, they began engaging in menial jobs to fend for themselves and eventually dumped their mentality of “steal to eat.” I was also able to successfully liaise with some philanthropists who helped the kids further their education after they graduated from my free foundation. A few other kids who got no sponsors surprisingly took up menial jobs to sponsor themselves.
Many people were quite puzzled at the fact that I put in so much passion into the kids’ education despite not receiving monetary incentives. However, there was something more than money that inspired me. It was satisfaction– satisfaction from seeing smiles on formerly smileless faces, satisfaction from the feeling that I am brightening dark paths, and satisfaction from knowing that I am impacting my community in a measure no amount of naira can settle.