NSMQ’s Francisca Lamini: My journey to Harvard

I hope my story will inspire you to DREAM BIG, believe in God and Believe in Earth Angels!

Since I started schooling at Sanity International School, where I had my basic and junior high education, I’ve always worked hard to be the best in my class and in every activity I partake in at school.

My inspiration and drive have always been to make my mother proud. Seeing my mother toil as a single mother every day to make life easier for my brother and me, I promised myself not to let her down and learn very hard to become a better person in the future who will change our destiny as a family. That was when I started working toward my dream of becoming a medical doctor.

I’ve always thanked God that I got into such an amazing school as Keta Senior High Technical School. I developed an interest in the national science and math quiz competition after I had written my BECE and I was waiting for my results and school placement. I was watching one of the contests and I was very amazed that I answered a mathematics question correctly.

Due to this excitement, I developed some positive energy that if I could answer a question correctly even though I’m not in high school, I can do well if I study very hard in high school and contest for my school. I worked very hard towards this when I was in school and got selected for the KETASCO national science and math quiz team.

I didn’t forget about my dream of becoming a medical doctor as I was preparing for the national science and math quiz competition. I studied the WASSCE syllabus diligently as well and wrote NOV-DEC in form two where I had eight A1s. In form three, I wrote WASSCE as well and got eight A1s again. This helped me greatly and served as a stepping stone for me to gain admission into university together with my extracurricular activities like NSMQ.

It was after NSMQ that I came across some amazing group of people who I refer to as my “earth angels”. I was informed one day by our NSMQ coordinator that a group of CEOs wanted to have lunch with me.

We came to Accra and met them and that was where EVERYTHING started. I had a chat with them and they asked me about my dreams and which university I would like to attend assuming money was not an issue. I told them I wanted to become a medical doctor and that I would like to attend Yale University.

I, later on, found out that Ms. Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh had reached out to the other CEOs and asked them to join her to have lunch with me.

She did not stop there. After lunch, she spoke with my mother and invited me to stay with her family in Accra. She taught me how to project confidence when I sit and changed my wardrobe by giving me a lot of shoes and clothes.

In fact, she took on the role of my guardian from that time making sure that my dream of becoming a medical doctor becomes a reality.

Because of her busy work schedule, she introduced me to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Majorie Kyerematen, who welcomed me as one of her daughters.

The other CEOs are Mrs. Abena Amoah (Deputy Managing Director, Ghana Stock Exchange), Mrs. Theresa Ayoade (CEO of Charter House), Dr. Edith Dankwa (Board Chair Business and Financial Times Limited), Ms. Nana Ama Dowuona (founder and managing partner N Dowuona & Company), Ms. Fatima Ali Mohammed (CEO of Africa brand warrior), Ms. Success Akpene Asima( general manager of privysas limited), Ms. Yvette Adounvo Atekpe( CEO of dimension data), Ms. Juliet Shieddy Akamboe( head-mining and metals, west Africa, standard bank group), Mr. William Delali Ofori( senior partner and consultant of Chiron health consult), Mr. Asad Nazir( CEO of silver star auto limited), Mr. Samuel Amanor( founder and CEO of BluSPACE Africa technologies limited).

I got introduced to Afex Hub; an academic institution that prepares students to apply for colleges abroad. I want to thank Afex Hub for helping me apply for colleges abroad and giving me the guidance I needed to do that.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got admission to four international colleges; Harvard University, Cornell University, Stanford University, and New York University (Abu Dhabi), all with full scholarships. I finally selected Harvard University for my pre-med degree.

On Tuesday, August 16th, I left the shores of Accra to start my journey to Harvard. The CEOs came together to support me financially to make this trip a success.

Ms. Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh took time out of her busy schedule to accompany me to Boston. We were met by one of the other CEOs Juliette Ankomba in the US. Together they made sure I settled into Harvard with no difficulties.

I have learned so much from this experience. I now have complete faith in God and I know that hard work and prayers work. I also know that I can dream big, do my part and let God do the rest. I also believe that there are earth angels who are destiny changers and I am grateful to God he chose the best for me!

As I start this journey I know that God will continue to guide me and help me become a top medical doctor who will change the destiny of my family and my whole village one day.

I want to thank Ghanaians for the love they showed me after the NSMQ.

It was overwhelming. God bless you all. I want to thank my mom, Ms. Benedicta Awudi for her unwavering support and her prayers that brought me this far. I want to thank the following people especially too for all the help and support.

Mr. Samuel Attah Mensah (CEO of Citi TV & Citi FM)

Professor Jane Opoku Agyemang

Mr. Nana Ofori

Hon. Collins Adomako

Mr. McCarthy Kofi Benny

Mr. Kelly Gadzekpo and his mother

The KETASCO Alumni of North America

Fidelity Bank

Miss Natalie Fordwor

YFM

The Ketasco Old Students Association, my teachers, and the entire NSMQ 2021 team

And as for Ms. Angela Kyeremanten-Jimoh, Mrs. Majorie Kyeremanten, and the CEOs, I can’t thank you enough; I can only say God richly bless you for everything you’ve done and spent on me.