Six Years of Schooling in Kaduna State
Six years ago, GCC took a group of 100 students from various IDP camps in Maiduguri to various secondary schools in Kaduna State to study. For the next 6 years, GCC assumed the responsibility of their parents, sponsors, friends and everything as none of them had been to Kaduna before and they were between 10-12 yrs old. Yesterday I was in tears as we joyfully returned these young women to Maiduguri successful SSS3 students to be reunited with their families. The little girls are now mostly my height and taller and are no longer the giggly girls that pulled my head tie and veil to get attention. They were young ladies politely hugging me and taking selfies. Amazing! We couldn’t do this without those who supported us with scholarship funds, and donations to buy their everyday needs. Mal Nasiru El Rufai graciously asked Kaduna State Ministry of Education to give the 100 slots of admissions we needed. My friend and sister Nuratu Batagarawa would always find time to see them over the holidays and brought along goodies- biscuits and coke and toiletteries. Mal Shehu Makarfi was the male guardian angel hovering round them to make sure all is well. The closes people in the lives of these girls are our GCC Kaduna Staff and in particular Ummulkhair Usman who knows every girl, her character, behaviour, parents and all relations for the many orphans among them. She is their best friend, loved and I guess hated because she is also their disciplinarian. Christie and Halima were their sisters from another mother while Yusuf and Kaumi would every end of session and sometimes twice a year would take the girls back to Maiduguri for holidays on a bus from Kaduna just like I spotted Yusuf yesterday in a corner smiling exhausted and taking photographs. I am so proud and grateful to my GCC family as they are not staff. The work they do is not a job, it is our contribution back to our communities that made us who we are. We are grateful to God Almighty for the opportunity to serve humanity. With our school now established in Maiduguri, our girls don’t need to travel to other states to study. We take them straight from the camps and board them in our academy.