How 23-year-old First Class Maths graduate changed the face of 24-year-old Community Secondary School (CSS), Abuloma, Port Harcourt

Posted by admin Headlines, NYSC (National Youth Service Corp), Rivers, State News Thursday, July 2nd, 2015

Written by: Dapo Falade – Port Harcourt
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Cynthia

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Last Tuesday, 23-year-old Miss Cynthia Adaeze Onwuchuruba reversed what appeared to be a curse on a school, Community Secondary School (CSS), Abuloma in Port Harcourt Rivers State which had been in existence for 24 years. Doing what many thought was impossible, the female corps member commissioned four modern toilets and a functional borehole as her personal community project in the school and thus put to an end the 24-year harrowing experience.

Curiously, the 23-year-old First Class Honours graduate of Mathematics of the Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, Anambra State and an indigene of Amaigbo in Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State, is not even doing her mandatory one year national service at the Community Secondary School. Rather, she is presently a Batch B corps member at the Federal Government Girls College, also in Abuloma.

Speaking at the commissioning of the two projects whose value she put at a little over N1 million, Cynthia explained what led to such a project even while knowing that she did not have the financial strength to pull it through. According to her, she had gone to see the senior principal of CSS Abuloma, Mr Samuel Derisoma, to submit to him a proposal on an academic excellence programme she wanted to hold there and she was asked to wait for him.

“While waiting outside, I realised it was break time and some students were playing football and I was watching with so much amazement and delight. Some shook each other during the match, some fell, stood up and dusted themselves and continued with the game. The bell rang, signalling that break time was over and I observed the students walk back to their classes. It dawned on me that the students didn’t wash their hands.

“Shortly after, I was called in by the principal and the first thing I asked him (was) if there was a borehole that supplies water and he said no. Alas, I saw a need which must be met. Weeks later, I concluded that I would embark on the project and I came to the principal to inform him about my plan to provide borehole water in the school. But he told me that there was a more pressing need which is the need for student’s toilet,” she said.

“I did a cost estimation and somehow, I felt it was too large to embark on and I went into prayers.

“The Holy Spirit made it clear to me that for every vision, there is a provision and that He is with on this. So, I summoned courage and started raising funds. After some time (over one month), I raised N13,000 and I went back to ask Him (God) if He was still with me on this project and, of course, He said yes. I thought it was going to be a smooth sail but it wasn’t.

“However, at the 11th hour (few weeks to the end of her service year), funds started showing up. First, N500,000 from MTN, N28,500 from Mr Daye, N35,000 from Barrister Christine, sand and gravel from the community and so on. Here I am, staring at the miracle and saying, ‘You have indeed been with me, Lord’. The project started and, in five days, all blocks were already laid; roofing commenced, plumbing, borehole connection and so on,” she said.

Cynthia, who became emotional in the middle of her speech, broke down in years as she said, “Today, I present to you four toilets and a borehole water of 3,000-litre water tank. This is a proof that we can change lives in our little way if we are willing. I feel a deep sense of fulfilment and joy as I have completed this project.”

Cynthia is an only child born into the family of the Mr Eleazer and Mrs Caroline Onwuchuruba, but she lost her father at the age of 15, precisely on February 8, 2007. But the multi-award winning corps member braced through the storm and, though with great financial difficulties, she went to the Nnamdi Azikwe University where she graduated with a First Class and was also the Best Graduating Student from her department in 2013. She is also an inspirational and motivational speaker, imbibing the ethics of morals and values in the young ones.

Cynthia is a holder of several awards, including the Future Africa Leaders Award (FALA), December 2014; on May 25, 2015, was certified by the Royal Commonwealth Society as an Associate Fellow for her commitment to promoting the values of the Commonwealth and working to improve the lives and prospects of commonwealth citizens; a recipient of yearly faculty and departmental awards during her days in the university and was the vice president, National Association of Mathematical Science Students of Nigeria (NAMSSN), 2012/2013 Session.

She competed alongside the best two students from the departments of Mathematics in the Nigerian universities and was among the top six that were selected for the Total Summer School, Paris in 2012. An inspirational speaker, Cynthia is the author of “Academics Without Tears”, a motivational book she wrote during her service year.

How was Cynthia able to attain all these feats? She explained what moulded her into being a person with the spirit of helping the under-privileged and how she was able to overcome the initial problem of funding her education.

“As a young person, there are so many things I have seen in our world today and I have always wished I could change them. I have been an inspirational speaker to the young ones. It was very challenging in a world where people are struggling to make ends meet. After losing my father, it was tough for my mum to send me to school. She is not on a paid job; she is into clothes-selling. Because of my dad’s illness, we barely had anything. I remember that my SSS II school fee was paid by the time we sold my dad’s car. So, it was like we had to start all over again.

“In fact, when I gained admission, I almost didn’t go to school because there was no money for my Acceptance Fee, not to talk about the school fees. So, I was at home until a friend of mine called and said, ‘okay, why don’t you try and see if we can pay the Acceptance Fee to, at least, withhold your admission?” I concurred and I paid the Acceptance Fee, just to secure my admission.

“Of course, I went to school late. I missed some months. Then I went to school; secured the admission and was perching (squatting) with some friends till it was close to the examination period. By then, my mum was able to gather some money which paid for my school fees as at that time.

“I just knew that I needed to look for a way to pay for my fees. In fact, I started looking for employment, a job to do that can help me raise my school fees. At a point in school, I sold clothes. I did some things that people even did not know I was doing; of course, they were legal and pure. At different times, because I was very intelligent, so many people wanted to pay me to write examinations for their children. Yes, I needed money but I never wrote any examination for anybody.

“In my second year, I applied for the MTN Scholarship Examination; I wrote the examination and by God’s grace, I also passed it. So, from my second year in the university, I was on the MTN Scholarship of N200,000 per annum. To continue to enjoy the scholarship, you have to maintain a minimum Grade Point (GP) of 3.5. I kept maintaining it till I graduated from school,” she said.

Why did she study mathematics? “So many things led me to entering for Mathematics. There were some stories surrounding my admission which details I don’t want to go into. But at a point, I had to choose a course and I found out that Mathematics is a course in which I don’t need to cram so much; it is something that I can work. So, I decided to take the challenge.

“Although somewhere in my second and third year, when challenges came up, I wanted to drop out from school and move to another department, but I had a good course adviser who spoke to me and said, ‘I have looked at you. You are a very determined young girl. With more efforts, you can remain in this department and you can shine’. So, I stayed back. I can tell you, it was not easy going through the rigour but I believe that it was worth it,” she said.

“I think by the time I entered into the university, I was able to discover myself a bit more because I saw a lot of people who cheated in examination and these were people I saw as very intelligent. But because they don’t take the pains to study and do the extra work, I decided to start helping to teach them for free. Instead of me writing examinations for you, why don’t we sit together; let me coach you?

“From there, I started travelling to campuses to teach them for free. In 2010, I travelled to the Nnamdi Azikwe University Pre-Science Campus, Mbaoku to teach the students Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. In fact, I even got some other tutors who assisted. So, I found that helping people was something that is always a burning desire. From then, that was when I started doing it on a large scale,” she said.

“I am very ambitious; I hope to go for my Masters Degree and from there for the PhD. Some day, I want to be the Minister of Education in Nigeria. Someday, I just want to be almost everything; I want to be the governor, the president because I know that our country can be much better. But basically, I just want to be someone that blesses lives every day. Even if I am going to be a teacher in a primary school in a very remote village, provided that I am blessing lives every day, that is just what I will want to be,” she enthused.

As a multiple award winner, Cynthia stands the chances of adding another feather to her cap by winning the NYSC National Award, known as the Presidential Award. A humble person, she, however, played down her chances as she said, “Basically, I believe that awards are given to those who merit them. So, if the government decides that the projects I put into my service year are worthy of a Presidential Award, I mean it is a commendation from the government and with open arms, I am going to accept it.”

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Posted by admin on Jul 2 2015. Filed under Headlines, NYSC (National Youth Service Corp), Rivers, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry