Here is the Chief of secretariat of Sehzoor Life Organization, Emmanuel Kpon Saye’s story. He’s a Liberian, an alumnus of Young African Leadership Initiative, Ghana Regional Leadership Cohort 6 online with membership in Team Yamoussoukro. His track is Social Enterprise Management. He’s commonly called Ekpon. Ekpon is passionate about eradication of Extreme Poverty, hunger and societal ills. He believes that when extreme poverty, hunger and societal ills are eradicated, citizens will have access to better education, health and well-being, justices, safer water, and respect for natural habitats at all levels….
Ekpon was born, living in poverty and hearing about peers in other nations far beyond where Africans are, brings this to his mind: why Africa is rich, but Africans are poor, and how can we contribute to change the story? This is seriously important to him. His spirit makes him feel that he’s obligated to contribute to community change efforts. He feels incomplete if he cannot help make a difference. He believes that the same way God has given us life, in the same manner we must support community change efforts. He’s always pushed for acceptable and appropriate conduct of himself and others towards anyone considering them as equally perfect creature in the image of God regardless of creed, color, orientation, geographical location, or backgrounds. One day, he was explaining his story, and this is how he began: “From birth, I have tried to understand why Africans are extremely poor? What I have initially understood is that people perpetuate poverty through behaviors that are not congruent. Imagine, at age 6, my teacher asked me for $20 dollars to be promoted. Being a single parent child, my only hope to get this bribery fund was my mom and she refused. After a long dialogue with my mother, she said "my boy, you are my future, so please carry this message to your teacher then tomorrow I will give you the money". "Ask her, do you want me to be bad person in the world? Whatever her answer will be, tell her you are good teacher, but your request for money is stupid". This was the message my mom gave me. If citizens at this age are taught bribery or corruption, what will happen in adulthood? My life story tells me that teachers perpetuate corruption. And corruption perpetuates poverty. It denies citizens of basic social services. Beyond my childhood, I have witnessed, read in news proliferated corrupt practices and failed governments' policies that all contribute to poverty. Additional things include greed, discrimination, tribalism, lack of vision, selfishness, nepotism, vest illiteracy, and beliefs are responsible for extreme poverty”. In other to fight back and make a better story, he has founded Sehzoor Life Organization with mission “shouldering the costs of eradicating extreme poverty, hunger and societal ills.” Finally, in unity, we can “shoulder the costs of eradicating extreme poverty, hunger and societal ills”. We say poverty is man’s no 1 enemy, hunger is an urgent unwanted state and societal ills are the outward manifestation of what in the devil’s stomach.
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