Solace Ojotule, a young Nigerian woman whose mother was abandoned by her family following the death of her father, has triumphed over the difficult challenges she encountered after winning a Mastercard Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom.
According to Solace Ojutule, who shared her experience on Linkedin, her father passed away when she was just 4 years old, and the paternal relatives quickly took all of his assets because her mother had not given birth to a male child.
Ojotule’s narration claims that her mother gave birth to five children in all, all of them are female, including herself. “The daughters and their mother were left behind when paternal relations stole all of the property.
Then our mother, who was now the father and mother as well, started to really struggle.
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All of my ambitions were dashed, and it appeared like I had no future. In the truest sense, life ended before it started, she wrote.
Throughout her early school years, her mother battled to pay for their school tuition.
She said that after completing her basic education, she was unable to go to high school owing to money and would hawk while her friends were attending classes.
In 2006, I graduated from primary school and stayed at home for weeks while my mates proceeded to secondary school. My mother couldn’t afford secondary school registration fee.
I would hawk caustic Soda early in the morning while seeing my mates in school uniform going to school. My mates would see me and ask why I wasn’t in school,” she said.
Ojotule stated that she got lucky when the government in her state provided free education for junior high school students. She got enrolled in high school and was able to graduate.
She furthered her education at the Kogi State University, North-Central, Nigeria where she studied Theater Arts and throughout her study at the university, she narrated that she would return from campus to hawk just to gather funds for the next tuition fee.
After bagging a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater Arts, Solace Ojotule applied for scholarships and after many rejections, the Mastercard Scholarship granted her an award to study at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Ojotule was awarded a scholarship award for Masters Degree in Africa and International Development. She is set to complete her Master’s at the University of Edinburgh in 2022 and finally achieve her dream.
“I have been awarded a fully-funded Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme at the University of Edinburgh to study in the 16th best university in the world(QS world ranking), and the 5th best university in the UK, the prestigious The University of Edinburgh.”
“I arrived in the UK and I still can’t believe it’s this ‘ordinary’ girl. Me that can’t even sponsor a trip to Niger Republic. It is still like a dream..
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I’m feeling in a way right now that I can’t articulate. I’m glad to demonstrate that GIRLS can succeed. Our aspirations are real,” she declared in 2021.
Ojotule commended her mother for not giving up on her children despite the prejudice they had to endure in order to make sure they all achieved success.
“I’m baffled to see my mother happy after all she’s been through. I’ve only ever wanted this. to make my mother happy and to demonstrate that there are no restrictions on female offspring. We can,” she asserted.
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