First-Year Student is "Shaping Destiny" of Needy Children in Cameroon
TAMHSC
COMOIACommunicationsNews2006 News ArchiveFirst-Year Student is "Shaping Destiny" of Needy Children in Cameroon
"In Cameroon you have to pay to go to school," Acha explains. "We couldn't afford it so I had to drop out twice, once when I was 13 and again when I was 17. This was difficult for me because I had developed a passion for learning."
Even though administrators wouldn't let him attend classes, Acha was drawn to school. He stood outside the window of his classrooms to listen to his teachers lecture, but one day he got caught by his former French instructor.
"I thought for sure I was in trouble and that he would tell the principal," Acha remembers. "I just knew the principal would whoop me and send me home, but the teacher let me sit through his class. Then we talked and I explained my situation, so he took me home to live with his family and paid my tuition."
Through additional financial help from an uncle living in the United States, Acha was able to finish high school where he graduated valedictorian. He then followed his uncle to the U.S., settling in Houston where he attended community college for two years and then Rice University. When deciding to apply to medical school, Acha saw the opportunity to stick close to his new home as an added bonus.
"When I came to interview here, I really liked the atmosphere and the small class size," Acha says. "The first-year students I talked to told me how great the teachers are and that they really look out for you. One of my brothers is also in Houston, so it's nice to be close to family. A&M was my first choice and I was really glad to get accepted."
Acha began his medical education at the College of Medicine in the fall of 2005, and is nearing the end of his first year. But as if studying to become a doctor isn't enough, he has also founded an organization to help needy children in his native Cameroon. Having first intended to enter the field of pediatrics, Acha says his perspective on his future has changed.
"I have always had a calling to work with children," Acha says. "But I have come to believe that my love for children doesn't necessarily translate into my becoming a pediatrician. Perhaps my role is more to love and take care of them financially."
Inspired by his sponsorship of three children through an international organization in Cameroon, Acha felt he was being called to start his own organization, Shaping Destiny. Having registered Shaping Destiny as a non-profit group in Texas and in Cameroon, Acha is faced with raising the funds to not only support needy children, but pay for start-up and administrative expenses as well.
With 24 children being sponsored already, Acha is hoping to increase that number to at least 50 in the coming months. Shaping Destiny provides housing and care for orphan children, but also offers support to children living at home whose families cannot afford the food, clothing, medical care and tuition that the organization provides.
Acha has been amazed at the interest his classmates have taken in Shaping Destiny, and says that more than 20 of his fellow students are supporting at least one child, with a few sponsoring two. He is also working to form an advising committee among his classmates to help run the organization.
People can support Shaping Destiny by sponsoring a child for $10 a month, donating to start-up and administrative expenses such as furniture, employee salaries, bills, etc., or giving a one-time gift.
"Many of these kids have lost one or both parents to AIDS, which is a terrible problem in Cameroon," Acha says. "One of the greatest benefits we hope to give these children is an education, and hopefully they will be less likely to make the same mistakes their parents did."
For more information about Shaping Destiny, visit www.shapingdestiny.org.
