By Chikezie Ogbonna
It is Dolly Rebecca Parton the American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian who said “It’s hard to be a diamond in a rhinestone world.”
Walking to school every day with her peers, 9 year old Joy Okoye, a primary 4 pupil of St. Mary School, Akwuke Awukunanaw has always felt the urge to lift the burden of catering for her education from her parents.
As tender as she is, she has come to understand the many struggles her parents are passing through in giving her a relative good education as much as they can afford and it has been her dream to rise above the fray and become a shining light that her family and her community will be proud of.
Armed with such dream, she got involved with The Choice Flame’s special Kiddies Corner Weekly competition called Kids Read and Win for children within the ages of 5-11 years old.
The keenly contested competition always had kids read and summarize a weekly story with moral lessons learnt.
In our Early March Edition this year, she emerged as the winner of Kids Read and Win competition for that edition and as such was featured as The Choice Flame Child of the Week for the preceding edition which is Mid March edition.
Little did she know that this will be the beginning of the many smiles she will attract to herself and to her family.
Young Joy was awarded a fully paid scholarship to cover both her primary and secondary education by a kind hearted philanthropist from her community by the virtue of her emergence as The Choice Flame Child of the week. However, the benefactor pleaded anonymity as he wouldn’t want his name in print for personal reasons.
“I feel good and my heart is full of joy over the scholarship awarded to me. I dream of becoming a nurse in future and I promise to continue making my parents proud going forward”, said 9 years old Joy Okoye Amarachi as she shyly spoke to our team on a visit to her school.
For Joy’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Nduka and Chinwendu Okoye, they expressed their profound joy seeing their little girl change the narrative in their family and their community as well.
Joy’s father, Mr. Nduka Okoye told us that he was shocked when he first heard the news of his child being The Choice Flame child of the week and the eventual scholarship award she won by the virtue of that.
According to the middle aged man, a native of Akwuke Awkunanaw, Enugu South and who reside with his family in the community, “indeed I have seen that nothing is impossible for God and she can be anything she dream of”
Her mother, Mrs. Chinwendu Loveth Okoye described her daughter as a gifted child. “She has an inherent leadership trait in her and I pray that God who started this journey in her fulfill it”, the mother of three prayed.
The couple further thanked The Choice Flame newspaper for the opportunity they offered to their daughter to explore her excellence.
Basking in the euphoria of the success of Joy, another winner of the kiddies weekly reading Competition for early June edition of this year and emerged as our child of the week for mid June won a scholarship to university level from His Lordship, the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev. Callistus Onaga.
9 year old Chukwuebuka Oke, a primary 4 pupil of Rock Land International School, Enugu will only have to flow excellently as his education journey to tertiary level has been guaranteed.
“I feel proud of myself and I am happy for not only being the child of the week, but also for being awarded this scholarship by His Lordship. I thank God and His Lordship for this and I promise to keep making everyone proud”, little Chukwuebuka said while speaking to The Choice Flame team on a visit to his school.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs Odugu Joshua Okechukwu will always be proud of their boy for the great name he has brought to the family. His father, Mr. Odugu Joshua, an officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC) and an assistant superintendent with the command expressed his deep seated joy with what he understands as God’s faithfulness to his family. He further thanked God and His Lordship as well as The Choice Flame newspaper for the opportunity given to his son.
Young Chukwuemeka was described as an intelligent boy and a very bright lad who is humble and quiet. According to his class teacher, Emeruche Clara Nnenne, he will continue to soar higher.
For 30 years of existence, his school, Rockland International School has not experienced such unprecedented feat where a pupil was awarded a scholarship up to university level. This of course was a cause of excitement for the proprietress of the school, Mrs. Victoria Ofoegbu.
According to the veteran teacher, having operated the school since 1991, this is the first time such great feat has been recorded in the school.
“We are so happy and proud. We had to cut out and enlarge the newspaper page he appeared as the child of the week.
“It was an encouragement to others and the message they have received from this success is that they can aim for greatness as nothing is impossible for them if they can believe and work towards it”, Mrs. Ofeogbu said.
She further prayed for God’s blessings and greater success for him and the pupils of the school.
One thing is certain; the emergence of the rebranded Children’s World page of The Choice Flame Newspaper in 2019 with the educational Kids Read and Win competition has continued to do the magic in encouraging the much needed reading culture amongst our kids. This of course has been applauded by His Lordship, Bishop Callistus Onaga who has always hinged on the need for a more broadened education for our young lads.
Following the outstanding success recorded so far, it is hoped that many more children who participate will not only explore a platform to expand their knowledge base, but will also attract more education advancement opportunities for themselves.
Just as Malcom X postulated, Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today; we cannot afford to let down our efforts in promoting education and effective reading culture on our kids. It is a must and a collective responsibility.
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