Help an abandoned homeless teenage girl complete her schooling

The Hope For Fresh Beginning Foundation was setup to tackle child labor and child marriages in Nigeria by providing alternatives to struggling families and children in the form of education, training and general assistance.

This campaign is for a teenage girl we found working on the streets. Abandoned by her family when she was 12, she had no opportunity to study beyond the 8th grade. Help us help her get a diploma and attend a university or learn a trade skill. Her story in her own words below:

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My name is Chinyere Goodness Ozuruigbo. I am from Umuozu town in Nwangene LGA of Imo State, Nigeria. I was born on 5th January 2003 to the second wife in a polygamous family. My mother died two months after giving birth to me, which led to my parents’ families fighting bitterly over who killed her. Because of this, my grandmother took me in as a baby and raised me. When I turned 12, she decided to send me back to my father so I could grow up with my half siblings. However, once I returned home, my father accused me of being responsible for my mother's death, claiming I killed her. I was hated by everyone and cursed by all. Not long after, my father drove me out of the house, accusing me of wanting to kill him the way I supposedly killed my mother. I was 12. With no other choice, I left home and began moving from one place to another in search of food, shelter and water. I met a woman who took me in and took me to Lagos to work in a restaurant as a helper.

Life in Lagos was not easy. I was physically beaten, molested and abused. When the woman I was working for discovered I still had a family, she decided to return me to my father. Nothing had changed when I went back home, but I found out that one of my half-sisters was now living in Lagos with her husband. My father kicked me out once again soon after I returned, so I decided to visit my half-sister in Lagos. She rejected me, saying that I might steal her husband and she couldn’t afford to lose him. She told me to help myself because no one has ever helped her in life. I left Lagos and went to Abuja with some friends I met on the streets. We lived in an unfinished building and I tried to work or wash plates in restaurants to survive. As a teen living on the streets, I was exposed to many dangers including sexual abuse from different men. I was living a life I didn’t want but had no other choice.

I have always wanted to be a Business Administrator so I am would like to appeal to the world to help me fulfill my dream of studying fashion and design so that I can start my own business. I stopped my education at Junior Secondary School level 2 (American grade 8) and I need money to complete the last few years. Thank you.