Our Owerri BEMORE Experience

Introduction by BEMORE Ambassador - Ekweuba Peace .U.

“BEMORE” Summer bootcamp, is a young girls initiative program set out to empower young Nigerian girls with life changing skills such as ICT, Solar, Leadership and Entrepreneurship and also enlighten them on breast cancer. This Initiative was first established in the year 2017 in the city of  Akure in Ondo State and so far has recorded the successful training of nearly 700 girls. The honourable pioneer in the person of Her Excellency Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu in her good nature also decided to push this program down to her mother land in the eastern part of Nigeria - Imo State in September 2018 to enlighten the Girl child in the east and encourage interstate development.

Anthony Uchechi K.C

This week has been an intensive and an exciting one, I have learnt a lot of things like climate change and renewable energy sources, Leadership and Entrepreneurship and Basic ICT, How to create a blog, make wig and how to carry out a breast cancer examination. I really thank God for this great summer. All Thanks to the Beety Anyanwu-Akeredolu Foundation (BAAF). My experience has been very educative and I am grateful for such opportunity.

Anyaegbulam Gift Nkiru

I am very happy to be in BEMORE Camp this year because ever since I was born, I have never been in any camp. This camp has thought me a lot of things I so not know. We have learn ICT, Solar Energy and Solar Cells, Weather and Climate, Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Creative Writing and Communication. This program has opened my eyes to the world. It made me to know about Microsoft word in ICT, Hardware and Software. We were also taught about breast cancer and its prevention and control. I found out that the lecture classes are very awesome and great. I thank God for making me witness this camp. I would love to come back to this camp next year. I am very grateful.

Ihezie Rejoice

I am very happy to get this opportunity to be in the BEMORE summer boot camp for Girls Naija because its one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had. I really gained a lot from the camp which gave me knowledge of the things I never knew such as ICT, Solar Energy, Leadership/Entrepreneurship, Creative Writing, Skill acquisition (such as make up ) and Climate Change. I really benefitted a lot from the camp which I will make sure I practice and create awareness so that People in my community will benefit from me just as I benefited from the camp which was organized by a caring mother and a role model who wants the best from the young girls of this generation. I believe with my newly acquired knowledge, I will do exploits in my generation.

Nnadi Blessing

At BEMORE Girls camp Owerri sponsored by our mummy Her Excellency Chief Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, I have experienced so many things which I never knew existed. For example the existence of Solar Energy. It was my first time learning about Solar Energy and other forms of Renewable Energy. I was also taught about the components needed in its constructions and the procedures. I learnt so many useful life changing lessons. Example, I was taught about Leadership; How to be a good Leader, Awareness of breast cancer and how to be a good computer operator and of course our awesome music class. I will not forget to mention our skill acquisition class. I hereby declare that the BEMORE camp experience is indeed life changing for me and I heartily thank our mother for creating this one in a life time opportunity for me.

Ihezie Nancy

I am very happy to be a participant of the BEMORE summer bootcamp. I learnt about breast cancer and its control and also self-examination every month. I know how to be a good and exemplary leader and also how to create and market my product or service. I have learnt how to creatively write and communicate my message with others. I also learnt how to operate a computer. I learnt about climate change for the first time, its effects and how I can combat it. I can now proudly boast as a young girl who have the knowledge of Solar Energy. I can now build a solar oven without buying kerosene. I can make make my beads without buying from elsewhere. My BEMORE Experience was a very fantastic one which I would never forget because it has made me to become a good and dependable citizen of my country. I thank Her Excellency for bringing this great opportunity to Owerri to benefit myself and other young girls. May God bless her, Amen.
I was full of surprises when I came to the BEMORE camp. I observed that the facility was beautiful and very conducive for learning. All thanks to the First Lady H.E Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu. These are invaluable experiences which money cannot buy. I am indeed privileged to have this opportunity that many other girls don’t have. Thank you for the opportunity to write this letter to express my gratitude to my big mummy, the First Lady. She is indeed an exemplary first lady because of her kind heart.

Destiny is Undeniable

A short story created by the Owerri BEMORE Girls as part of their practical session for creative communication.

Once upon a time there was a girl called Ella, a native of Alaoma Village. Together with her parents – Mr. and Mrs Nneka Obi they lived in a happy family. However, Ella’s parents were poor and couldn’t send her to school. Ella’s parents had only one means of livelihood which was farming. Ella finally resolved that she will shape her future. She decided that she must go to school to become useful in life like other successful men and women she knew who also became successful after periods of hardship.

One faithful day, she went to a nearby school and was peeping through the window. Then the teacher in that class saw and called her. She asked her why she was there, so she explained all that she has been going through and how she has decided resolved to pursue an education. The teacher accepted her and gave her three weeks to pay her fees. But it wasn’t that easy for her, then on the third week when she was meant to pay the fees, she went to school on a Thursday but on getting there, the teacher sent her back to get her fees.

This really hurt her because they were to write an exam on that day. She was depressed and as she was crying on her way home, she heard a news that her parents had been killed by hired killers. She felt very terrible and down even confused; she didn’t know what else to do. Because she was the only child, she now became an orphan. After the burial of her parents, her father’s brother and his wife took her and stared treating her like a slave.
Her immediate relatives were very wicked towards her and her siblings.

Her uncles were very greedy. One day, they decided to send her out of the house so that they could inherit all her father’s properties. They took everything from Ella and her siblings but what they couldn’t take from her was her intelligence and her skills. She was a very good singer and also dances very well, so despite everything that they tried to discourage her, she never gave up. Ella was determined to conquer in order to achieve her destiny.

One she was walking on the street when a girl saw her and told her about a program going on in Owerri called BEMORE summer boot camp, then she decided to go and witness the camp. Although she didn’t have a good education background, she was naturally brilliant. When she got to the camp, she was very attentive in class and was able to learn despite the fact that she was behaving like a village girl without education, she still did well from the little experience she had in school that she once attended for three weeks.

When the camp was about to close, they were given an exam to write based on what they had learned there but nobody knew the plan of the first lady - who organized the camp – for the person who comes first in the exams. It was very surprising to everyone that Ella came out the best especially in the music and dancing competition that they did. Her performance was so awe – inspiring that she was given a scholarship from JSS 1 till completion of her university education.
She graduated ten years later, did her masters and finally became a very popular and famous musician. She soon got married to a medical doctor and they were blessed with two kids and lived a happily ever after.

NOTE:

In the story we tried to put into practice what we learned in the creative writing and communication class which are the 3 main elements of story writing – Character, Theme and Settings.
Our main character in the story is Ella
The theme of the story is Tragedy and Happiness
The settings include Alaoma village, farming (which represents occupation and livelihood)