Grace Amuzie — On Every Child Deserves a Chance
Interviewed by Ifeoluwa A
Knowledge, they say, is power, but that phrase is a cliché that holds as it is much more than a string of words. Knowledge gained by education within the four walls of a school is a ladder and also a means to navigate life’s many pathways.
However, a significant percentage of the children who live in Nigeria don’t have the benefits of proper education as a myriad of factors have adversely impacted their development and ensured that Nigeria has the highest out of school population. In this interview, I sat with someone contributing her quota to reduce the number of out-of-school children. She is the founder of Isrina School — a volunteer-driven institution that provides fundamental, quality education for children from low-income households, accepting plastic as tuition fees. We talked about how she started school, the journey so far, what keeps her going and plans for the future. Enjoy!
Ife: Thank you for taking out the time to chat with me. Can you tell me about yourself?
Grace: My name is Grace, and I am 21 years old. I am from Abia state. I am a graduate of Economics from Crawford University and currently serving.
I am also an advocate for SDG 4, which aims to promote lifelong learning and ensure quality education and opportunities for all. I am very passionate about education because I believe it is a life-changer. It changed mine, and I think every child should have access to quality education and equal learning opportunities, regardless of who they are or where they come from.
I: Can you tell me a little about growing up?
G: I grew up in Ajegunle and that, in itself, is a story of God’s grace. I now believe that everything, good or bad, works together for my good.
Living in a slum like that limits access to certain things in life, education inclusive. It is because the focus is on surviving one day at a time. My sister and I got lucky because someone picked interest in us and sponsored our education. It was what majorly inspired me to help other children in the community in every way that I could.
I: Talk about miracles. How did school start?
G: The idea was to teach children living in Dustbin Estate, Ajegunle during the long holidays at an affordable price. I was in SS2 at the time. I had some time on my hands and decided it would be good to give back to society by helping the children in my community learn to read and write. We got some commendable feedback, so we decided to take things up a notch. Someone gave me a chance, so here we are, giving them a chance at life through primary education.
I: Sorry, did you say Dustbin?
G: Yes, that’s what the estate is called. It is a swampy area with dirt, plastics, paper, nylon bags — any form of refuse you can imagine littered all over the place. The people are living in shacks built on top of garbage.
I: That’s sad. How long has the school been in existence?
G: 5 years this April. In that time, we have grown to cater to children living inside the estate, and children from other areas, as long as they are willing to learn.
I: Wow! That’s incredible. Well done. How many students do you have?
G: Thank you. We currently have about 150 students from daycare to primary 5. We accept all children that come our way; since inception, about 16 students have graduated and moved to secondary school.
I: In the 5 years you have been running the school, is there anything you feel you could have done differently?
G: That would be reaching out to more people. When I started, I naively believed things would work themselves like manna would fall from heaven and all will be well with the world. I keep to myself a lot. So, I did not quickly realize that I needed to work with other people to achieve the goals I had for the school. Let’s just say the mounting expenses cleared the fog for me.
I: Hmmm. Expenses. Let’s talk about that a bit.
How do you manage them? Do you have funding?
G: The school relies majorly on donations; people give to us directly or through gofundme. We also reach out to organizations and individuals with the same objectives. They provide solutions for us or connect us to other organizations and individuals who can help. In addition, we are considering introducing some merchandise to allow more people to support the school.
I: What about teachers?
G: We currently have 10 teachers, who we call volunteers, but they are paid a small allowance from the donations we receive. However, we are talking to someone who has offered to pay the teachers.
I: What can you tell me about the support the school has received? Any sponsors, partners, etc.?
G: One of the initiatives we started with was a Back-To-School project where we provided writing materials to children in the community at the beginning of the school term. My sister started it, and I joined her later. The initiative put us out there a bit, so we have had some organizations and individuals reach out to partner with us or fund particular projects, but we normally write to selected ones requesting that they sponsor some children. Though most of them want to remain anonymous.
I: Can you tell me about any of them?
G: Okay, that’s fine. We have an official partnership with African Cleanup Initiative (ACI) — a plastic-for-fees scheme, where they buy plastic from us for recycling.
I: Interesting. How does that arrangement work?
G: Weekly, parents bring plastics to the school in exchange for their children’s fees and educational materials. We have a way of estimating the value of whatever they bring each time, so they know how much they have paid so far and what is left.
We then send the plastics to ACI, they pay us the naira equivalent at the end of each term, which we allocate to the students, based on their parents’ plastic contribution and communicate the same to the parents.
I: It seems like a ton of work. What are the things that inspire you and keep you going?
G: Seeing the students do well is essential to me. That is the main thing that keeps me going.
My parents have supported me from the jump; from my dad letting us use the space for his church activities, to my mum teaching some of the students vocational skills. The name “Isrina” is a combination of my parents’ names — Israel and Angelina, to thank them for their support over the years.
I also get ideas from some of the books I read — implementing them and seeing them work gives me the ginger to keep going and learn more.
I: Let’s come back to you. Aside from teaching and running the school, what other things do you like to do?
G: I love cooking. I also make bags and beaded slippers.
I: What are your plans for the future?
G: I plan to become a UN advocate for SDG 4 and to see that I do all I can to ensure the students in our care excel in life. Most of all, I just want to relax and be taken care of.
For the school, it’s mainly to get a larger space. So, we can accommodate more students and make the environment more serene for learning. We also provide vocational training — such as hairdressing, cobbling, etc.. to equip the children with other skills so we need extra space to improve that, as well.
I: What are some of the stern decisions you’ve had to make?
G: That has to be deciding what partners and teachers to bring on board. There is always the issue of continuing because having someone back out after a few months affects us.
I: Are there ways the government can help?
G: it’s mainly in the provision of resources at subsidized rates and making approval processes smoother.
I: This has been informative. Thank you so much.
G: It was a pleasure, thank you for reaching out.
Student Testimonial
Meet Christabel
Having lost her mum during childbirth at a tender age, her grandma became her primary caregiver. She was enrolled as a learner in 2017 and displayed remarkable capabilities in her academics.
She emerged at the top of her class every academic session and assumed the position of the head girl. She participated in First Aid Education Training for Children in 2019.
Christabel is a recipient of the Rehoboth Solid Dream Foundation Academic Scholarship. This scholarship will span through her secondary and tertiary education. She is currently in JSS at Blevour College, Ajegunle. We congratulate her and wish her every achievement in her
academic pursuits.