Najahat Antiku a MasterCard Scholar at Ashesi University reading Management Information Systems, is seeking to change some narratives in the Upper West Region.

Seeing a lot of children from deprived homes roam about the streets and become societal problems, and she has taken the step to help reduce the number of these children and help their families.

Through her organisation Brighten My Light, she takes care of the basic schooling needs and personal needs of children who have dropped out or are on the verge of.

She also assigns a lifetime mentor to coach that child into making good life choices and informed decisions.

For those who have already dropped out and are not willing to return to school, they are enrolled to learn vocational skills.

Najahat Antiku sets aside a little portion of her money every month to fund this initiative.

In an interview, she revealed “setting aside part of the little I have monthly is not an easy task, but it is worth it.”

“There is a lot of fulfilment in transforming the lives of others,” Najahat says.

On the 8^th of June, Brighten My Light visited a community in the Wa West District and donated agricultural inputs to a widow who is a subsistence farmer to enable her to commercialize her farming.

The team is currently working hard to bring back the widow’s 17-year-old daughter, who has run to the south for to be a “kayayo” [head porter].

Work is being done to let the girl learn a vocation so that she can have a reliable source of income in future.  To read more about what she does, visit their website @rebrand.ly/brightenmylight.

Najahat Antiku started Brighten My Light with the mission of creating an Africa where the future of the deprived child will be not be wasted as a result of poverty.

Ashesi University instils a very strong sense of leadership and community give back to its students. From this training and the passion Najahat has for social change, she was able to form a team with 5 other friends of hers to enable her to run the organization.

Help in working towards the change you want to see. So much is being done underground. We only need shoulders to lift us in making a very big difference.