By John Fatoye, Convener of Yattiyr Scholarship Foundation

I know what it feels like to have a dream so big it lights up your heart and to watch that dream nearly die because of circumstances you can’t control. My parents worked hard to give me an education. As a boy, my father paid my school fees upfront; life felt stable until everything changed. He lost his job and our world turned upside down. My mother tried to hold us together with petty trading, but it wasn’t enough. Bills piled up. School fees became a struggle.

I was sent out of class many times for owing fees, sometimes even chased out of exams. It was crushing. My dream of becoming a doctor felt like it was slipping away. Then, in the middle of that despair, a door opened. I represented my school in a competition, won, and a kind-hearted philanthropist offered me a scholarship. That single act changed everything – funding my entire secondary school, my first degree in Human Anatomy, and eventually helping me achieve my lifelong dream of becoming a medical doctor. It didn’t just pay my fees; it restored my hope and gave me back my future.

While studying medicine, I couldn’t stop thinking about the countless other “Johns” — children with big dreams but no means to pursue them. Statistics say there are over 18 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, but to me, they’re not numbers; they’re faces and stories. One day, I met one of them.

Mariam was a bright 12-year-old girl working as a waitress, confidently speaking English she had learned on her own. When I asked what class she was in, she smiled shyly, she had never been to school. Something shifted inside me. What if children like Mariam had the same chance I had? What if someone believed in them, funded them, mentored them, and helped them dream again? That day, the vision for what became the Yattiyr Scholarship Initiative (YSI) was born.

What started as a desire to help is now a registered organization that has enrolled over 150 indigent children in school, supporting them all the way to graduation. Already, about 30 have completed school, and six are pursuing university degrees. Behind those numbers are lives forever changed.

Lateef’s father lost his sight to glaucoma; his mother left, and he became his father’s guide on the streets, begging for alms and out of school for two years. We found him, sponsored him, and today he’s back in class chasing the future he thought was lost. And Kafayat, once on the verge of quitting secondary school is now studying law at Usman Dan Fodiyo University, breaking barriers her circumstances built.

These stories fuel me daily. Poverty should never decide a child’s destiny. A simple act of kindness transformed my life; through YSI, I’m multiplying that miracle. We don’t just pay fees, we walk with these children and their families, rewriting futures with hope. My story began with loss, but it has become one of restoration for me and others.