After nine years of teaching science in Cameroon, I began looking for scholarship opportunities upon observing some of my high-achieving but low-income students getting married too early and others getting into hawking business after their GCE Advanced Level owing to insufficient funds to continue with education. 

 With the belief that service to humanity is the greatest job description and with a growing need for "Education for All",  I have dedicated my time, resources, and energy to visiting schools, gathering students & young people, and some teachers in my community and encouraging them to work relentlessly on their dreams. 

Due to my passion for humanity, I became part of Open Dreams where I now serve as the Program Coordinator for the West Region in Cameroon. In addition to this role, I also serve two other access organizations that are partners with Open Dreams; I serve as the Associate Director of Field Operations and Mentorship for the Urega Foundation, and a mentor for the Jumbam Family Foundation.

As a result of others' encouragement, I became self-motivated to pursue my education and hope to earn a PhD someday soon.  

When you spend time with like-minded individuals, like the Open Dreams team, dreams become real.

I was born to a low class income family in Baligham, a small village in Bamenda - Cameroon at a time when many children did not go beyond elementary education. My parents laid down their lives for me to go to secondary school, an ultimate sacrifice that made me know and value education at a very tender age. In secondary school, I would work all day in the garden on Saturdays to earn 500 FCFA (less than $1) to bridge the financial gap as my parents could not afford all my school needs. 

The case wasn’t different in the university. I did hawking, taught as a part time secondary school Mathematics teacher and as a private tutor alongside my studies. I thus developed skills in multitasking, effective planning and time management.

Motivated by the numerous challenges I faced with my education due to lack of sponsorship and the many opportunities I missed, I devoted my life to a different and better story for today’s youth.

Today, I instill in youth diverse knowledge, skills and values which they need to effectively respond to any life challenge, live a fulfilling life and make a positive difference in their service to mankind. I am achieving this by exposing them to different opportunities and mentoring them to make the best of these opportunities. 

It is in search of these opportunities and better mentoring skills that I found Open Dreams, a diverse and inclusive community where I have learned that if you cannot offer a drop of water to someone when you have a glass, you will not offer a glass of water to the person when you have an ocean. Open Dreams has broadened my horizons and made my impact to know no bounds.

I am the coordinator of Open Dreams in Buea, born from a family of four in the restive region of the North West. My parents were not privileged to attend university education but they made higher education a priority for us. Growing up in a developing country like Cameroon where most students do not have the opportunity to realise their dreams after secondary school, I was inspired to assist in the realization of the dreams of young Cameroonians through mentoring and community engagement activities. Thanks to an organization like Open Dreams which shares a similar vision as mine, I found a platform where I could leverage on, to create an impact in my community by mentoring secondary and higher school graduates to benefit from educational opportunities both home and abroad. I am a Biomedical Scientist, with a passion for biostatistics and its applications in the field of public health.

As a teen, I realized educating a child was the pride of most parents but overwhelmingly a burden for these same parents. As we grew older, our dreams of getting a world-class education and greatly impacting  our community through our seemingly impossible aspirations, gradually faded. We began to create boxes of limitations for ourselves. During the summer of 2015, together with a few other smart minds from schools in Bamenda, I was invited to the Open Dream Centre. That was the beginning of a new chapter.

At the centre our dreams were rekindled. We were groomed to access world-class education. A whole new way of perceiving our community opened up for us and we knew we could be change agents in our community. We benefited from a lot of resources, like laptops, books, college preparation lessons, and the list goes on. It sounds like a fairy tale and that’s exactly how it felt to us and our parents. With time, the good news started pouring – full-ride scholarships as the community grew. Indeed, Open Dreams Equalises Access to Educational Opportunities.

I continued as a home scholar. I studied Industrial Robotics at École Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique de Douala. Because of this community of a kind, I was outstanding in school. I love improving systems through healthy technology and in the past, I worked on a medical device – The Health Pad, for automatic health data collection, storage, and management. Through Open Dreams, I have participated in international programs, onsite and online, geared toward innovation, leadership, and social change. We are global at Open Dreams.

I am currently an Open Dreams Fellow and the Regional Coordinator of the Douala hub. As I reach out for quality education, I delight in mentoring, guiding, and helping scholars in their pursuit for quality education. Also, I lead and organize activities in the Douala, geared towards community impact like Aviva day, school outreaches, and community engagement.

Growing up in a community where we could barely afford food and education, with my mum struggling daily in raising us, facing difficulty to afford statutory fees, and didactic materials for our education, I had to spend most of my childhood on farms, working to raise money for feeding and our school needs. I saw girls of my age, street-selling to survive, enduring sexual assault just to afford basic needs such as education. At age 8, selected under Plan International’s sponsorship program, I was given Swiss foster parents who partially sponsored my primary education.

My mum had the opportunity to attend the teacher’s training college. This enabled her to pick up a teaching job with the Baptist while she did petite trade and businesses to back up her finance. Empowering herself, enabled the continuance of our education. Inspired by my background, I saw the need for community development, I saw the need of educating and empowering women and girls to gain access to education.

Just like Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can change the world. I have experienced this powerful weapon in the different opportunities I have been offered such as in the Young African Leadership program, The Haggai leadership Program, The Fulbright teaching program and much more. Such educational opportunities shaped my thinking and desire to commit myself in enabling others gain access to Education.

Growing up, I was passionate about problem solving and patterns, reason why physics, maths and computer science have always being my best subjects.

I did perform well in class but I always felt something was lacking, my bugging curiosity to explore my creativity always left me wanting.

I tried working on some projects in high school but friends and some teachers will discourage me. I found myself learning tech skills online most of the time. I have wanted an environment where i could develop my creativity and express my talents, but unfortunately I didn’t find any until I met Open Dreams.

While in University I was volunteering at CRTV Northwest where I anchored the program “Youth Forum” and most of the time I will have on the panel some brilliant talented youths, passionate about community development and international education. I was curious where they were coming from because such breed was rare to find. This were youths actively developing their talents and creating value in their communities, you guessed it right, most of them were from Open Dreams, that is how I was introduced to and joined open dreams.

After graduating from the higher teachers training college as a computer science teacher, I decided to launch an EduTech startup to inspire youths to explore and develop their creativity through Technology.

Open Dreams has been a valuable partner in reaching this goal.

I believe education when combined with technology could bring society out of bondage and bring about sustainable development.

And at Open Dreams we are making this happen.

In the realm of life's unexpected turns, there exists a profound truth: every disappointment has the potential to unveil a hidden blessing. This sentiment resonates deeply with my own journey, which took an unforeseen twist when I failed to secure a scholarship to study engineering. Little did I know that this disappointment would ultimately lead me to discover a new path—teaching—one that ignited a passion within me and set me on a transformative course.

My vision for the future is one where more girls break free from stereotypes and enthusiastically embrace careers in STEM fields. Leveraging my expertise as a computer science teacher and the various opportunities provided at Open Dreams, I am determined to empower girls to excel in the world of technology.

Based on my firsthand experience with Open Dreams, I have witnessed the transformative power of educational mentorship in changing lives. Looking ahead, I am excited to combine education, mentorship, and technology to shape the next generation of technologically savvy youth, who possess the passion, zeal, laser focus, and an aspiration to bring about positive change in their communities.
 

"The reward for work done is more work" - Jim Butcher  
I joined Open Dreams as a volunteer when I was barely 16 years old. Being taken aback by the brilliant nature of the scholars, I never saw myself as a scholarship recipient,  but my give-back spirit made me a social impact volunteer. At the age of 17, I was afforded the opportunity to study Business Management at the African Leadership College in Mauritius as a MasterCard Foundation scholar. I was the first member of my family to pursue College education abroad, after overcoming odds due to the Anglophone crisis. I was committed to gaining knowledge from the developed world, so as to contribute to change in my country. Every summer and Christmas break, you would find me in Cameroon actively participating in Open Dreams' activities.  I have been privileged to coordinate the Open Dreams Summer Academy in Bamenda and represent Open Dreams as a speaker during the Aviva Day for the years 2022 and 2023. This in essence, showed my unwavering commitment to addressing SDG 4- Education for all.

Even as a MasterCard Foundation scholar, I coordinated sessions on LinkedIn optimization, effective transitioning, and being a teaching assistant at school. These deeds and more made me receive the Social Impact award in December 2022. I was not present at the award ceremony,  as I was back home in Cameroon planning the Aviva Outreach program with the team. This award is evidence that I have a heart for my people and cannot let our background put us down. Hence a solution, the Date With Triumph-DWT venture, which seeks to enhance the professional development landscape in Cameroon. Thanks to Open Dreams, I was able to see an opportunity amidst the problem of unemployment and provided a solution to one of the root causes of unemployment which is lack of professionalism by the ever increasing workforce.

I started DWT under the Open Dreams canopy to ignite in like-minded individuals the ability to see problems as opportunities to bring forth sustainable solutions, in an effort to being catalysts of change. I envisage a Cameroon where every youth is zealous about making their dream a reality. This stems from identifying a cause, then building on your passion to birth a sustainable solution. It is about doing hard things.

Joining Open Dreams as a passionate volunteer, mentor, and an innovative facilitator is just a stitch in time, which evidently saves nine. 

I remember the first day I stepped into Open Dreams, a small but mighty office at Mile 2 Nkwen little did I know my journey with OD was going to transform my mindset, my worldview and outlook of life. With Open Dreams I could dream big, I could study on an international level, it wasn’t a selfish dream but a shared one.

Over the years, I have learnt to carry others along on this journey of shared dreams, from doing the little things, such as working with my team in Bamenda to organize the Aviva Day, Summer Academy, Graduate summit in a crisis Region and eventually the most difficult part, mentoring high achieving low-income students to harness opportunities, such a joy to see my OD-Babies as I called them win big.
 

With OD, I have learnt servant leadership, most times knowing when to take a step behind and letting the Pre-scholars evolve, discover their talent, and develop their skills. I am interested in creating a workable, volunteer-led sustainable system, where those who are two steps ahead, wherever they (I) go around the world, our efforts, hearts and spirit are entwined in supporting the next Generation interested in sharing this dream.

From the Heart of OD, Afungfege Evita

I lost my dad when I was only six. That changed everything for me. My hopes of receiving the best education and probably taking up higher education in the USA diminished. My father had promised me that, but he left us early. Fortunately for me, I had an uncle (George Town)who vouch to invest in me. He sent me to Sacred Heart College, one of the best secondary schools in Cameroon after my mother struggled to cover for my primary education. I’d sell bananas and groundnut in the streets of Yaoundé so as to bridge the gap that yawned between my education and finances. Whilst in secondary school, I’ll often spend time during the holidays working in my uncle’s farm so as to prepare the next academic year. My time with my uncle instilled a sense of leadership in me, which to me, is transforming people’s life without expecting anything in return. Equipped with this, and the mantra, if not me then who? I was lured, and immediately embraced the mission of Open Dreams after high school. I wanted to contribute to others education just like my uncle did for me. For the last seven years, I have been contributing to the organization’s mission of facilitating access to educational opportunities for low-income students. I handle little task however with a profound impact on the wellbeing of scholars.

My goal of investing with Open Dreams is to ensure that Cameroon has the quality human resources and ethical leaders she will need to emerge. Nonetheless, my actions aren’t limited only to Open Dreams. I have since invested my knowledge and skills with other clusters of NGOs in Cameroon to invest further in vulnerable communities and marginalized individuals.

I was born to business-oriented parents who, although not educated beyond elementary level, valued education. During the first decade of my existence, I saw my parents work tirelessly to grow their business and to also see us through school. We were fortunate to attend the best elementary school in our community and even a high-end secondary school. Many times our parents discussed plans to sponsor us abroad provided we earned good grades. Sad enough, this good life style that whispered a bright future was short-lived as one unfortunate Saturday afternoon my parents’ business centre went up in flames – our standard of living was reduced to ashes.  
I was only in Grade 9 at the time. Life became challenging and we could barely afford food and decent education. We had to drop out of the high-end schools, in which we were hitherto enrolled, to study at low-cost public run schools. Even at that, our parents faced difficulties affording statutory fees and didactic materials. We resorted to farming for survival. Our indefatigable mother of blessed memory😭 spent sleepless nights just to make sure we didn’t drop out of school completely. In addition to farming, our mum did all sorts of petty trading just to raise money.
As the first child in a family of 8, I grew up with the determination to achieve the educational dreams our parents had for us despite the odds. It has been a smooth ride at all! I struggled through university and upon graduation I got a job in an agro-company where I served as administrative assistant. This was an opportunity to support my parents and alleviate their financial burden by helping to sponsor my siblings. However, the quest to attain the educational heights my parents had wished to see us through and the aspiration of a better life forced me to quit this job after 5 years.
I got admission into a teacher training college and eventually became a teacher because I knew a teaching position will offer me the possibility to pursue my dreams.  Of course my continuous struggle to access educational opportunities and to impact the educational community in Cameroon have earned me multiple international awards and recognitions amongst which the Young African Leadership Initiative, the TransformELT Model Teacher award, the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement award, British Council Teacher of the Year award, the IELTS Morgan Terry Memorial award, the Betty Azar award, the Hornby Scholarship and much more. These achievements are a testament to my resilience.
I seek to inspire my learners and young people in my community never to give up because if I could make it with limited access to the right information, they too can make it. I do not just inspire young people through my story but I also help them to access the right information that will make their path to attaining their full potential less rocky. This explains why when I first came into contact with the Country Director of Open Dreams in 2019 during a capacity-building workshop where we were both resource persons and learned about Open Dreams’ vision, I clicked. I take delight not just in mentoring learners seeking access to educational opportunities but also in empowering teachers because I understand that teachers pioneer the future of generations. There is no way we can hope to inspire the next generations while sidelining those who are at the forefront of all civilizations.

I was born into a family where the English language, even Pidgin, was a luxury. My parents, uneducated as they were, along with most of my siblings, did not have English as part of their repertoire. From a young age, I recognized the significance of English as a language that could open doors to opportunities. A defining moment came when I lost the opportunity to sell our kola nuts to a trader who visited my hometown of Mbiame, in search of the sought-after cash crop, simply because none of my family could communicate in English. I still vividly recall the feeling of helplessness as we watched the trader vanish into the horizon, our kola nuts unsold due to language barrier. This constituted a substantial economic disadvantage, given that traders from distant areas were known to pay higher rates than local buyers. This experience marked a turning point for me, prompting me to set my first life goal: to learn English and use it effectively. At the tender age of eight, I understood the power of language. Driven by this ambition, I chose to become an English language teacher, aspiring to empower not only my family, but also my wider community.

 I came in contact with Open Dreams (OD) in November 2021 during the Instructional Technology training that OD organised in partnership with the U.S Embassy in Cameroon aimed at equipping secondary school teachers with technological pedagogical skills. This was a transformative encounter that completely altered the course of my life. It marked a significant turning point, leading me down a new path and fundamentally reshaping my career. I was utterly amazed by the exceptional manner in which the OD scholars conducted their presentations on technology. Their remarkable display of confidence, fluency in English, and adeptness in utilizing technological tools left me momentarily questioning whether I was still in Cameroon. The level of English mastery they exhibited was truly mind-blowing, leading me to ponder if I, as an English teacher, could achieve the same level of proficiency. During the training, I was introduced to U.S. exchange programs, which I subsequently applied for and was selected on my very first attempt. By the program's conclusion, one thing became abundantly clear: joining the Open Dreams Community was an urgent priority. I was privileged to join this community which embodies a collective pursuit of success, not merely as individuals, but as a unified people. Passion, resilience, determination, and perseverance are woven into the fabric of this community, where success is a way of life. Serving as a program facilitator at OD has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. The English language stands as a pivotal requirement for students to access quality education on a global scale. In my capacity as an English language facilitator, I am elated to contribute to Open Dreams' mission of equalizing access to quality education. Serving as a bridge, I connect bright, ambitious scholars to a world brimming with opportunities that have the power to transform not only their own lives but also the lives of those around them.

Felix Fomengia holds an MSc in Cybersecurity and Forensics at the University of Westminster. Felix is an innovative tech entrepreneur and innovator from Cameroon, passionate about solving problems around his community using ICT and inspiring and empowering the younger generation nationwide.

Amidst his numerous works in tech, He is the developer and founder of the GCE Study App, an innovative learning app for students in secondary and high schools in Cameroon. Since 2018, the app has been an ed-tech solution for students to self-study and prepare for their exams helping over 20,000 students. He launched the Felix Fomengia Foundation, a non-profit tech empowerment, to continue inspiring and empowering young people passionate about technology, inspiring them to build and create innovative solutions and change-makers in their communities.

I look forward to dedicating my experience and skills to achieving Open Dreams' goal of equalizing access to quality education. Working to better communicate and showcase the journeys of Open Dream scholars and alumus.

In a world where knowledge and skills flow freely like a river, educational opportunities play hide and seek, leaving in the shadows with uncertainty. Most of these discrepancies in opportunities are caused by forced migration and financial constraints. I am an internally displaced student in Yaoundé due to the Anglophone crisis which has been plaguing the English-speaking regions of Cameroon since 2016. According to ReliefWeb this crisis has claimed more than 4000 lives and caused the displacement of over 437,000 Cameroonians, 

As a victim of the crisis, I fled my hometown to attend high school in the city at 16 leaving my 4 siblings behind since my parents could not afford our education for all my family in the city. Post my high school graduation, the anglophone crisis intensified in my hometown forcing my entire family to follow me to Yaounde in search of shelter and security. I was unable to continue my education in college after high school because my family of seven which previously lived in a comfortable home was now sandwiched in a one-room house due to financial constraints. 

Hence, I dropped out of school and started part-time jobs at construction sites to support my parents, pay for our accommodation, and sponsor the education of my four siblings who have been out of school for four years without formal education. I also learned to repair electronics at Wizbrown Telecom to raise more revenue for my family.

Positively driven by my personal experience, I carry a burning motivation to explore the problems of limited access to education, energy poverty, and hunger, faced by displaced minorities. To reach out to these minorities in my community, I started volunteering at Open Dreams in December 2020, an NGO that equalizes educational opportunities for high-achieving, low-income students in Cameroon. Additionally, I founded a youth-led organization known as DeWise Foundation to support the social and economic empowerment of displaced populations where we have reached out to hundreds of IDPs.

Have I done enough to satisfy my passion for migrant rights and empowerment? Absolutely not!! I have not yet heard the stories of the other 437,000 IDPs, going through similar experiences as my family, nor have I led a diplomatic mission to a conflict zone to promote peace and access to education. I have yet to celebrate the golden jubilee of the DeWise Foundation and Open Dreams who are making strides to reduce inequalities in educational opportunities.

“If your child grows up in Kumba, there is a slim chance that he or she will succeed. Kumba is
not a place to raise a child.” I grew up with these thoughts. It is common to say that young
people in Kumba often find pleasure in idleness rather than purpose in education.
As the last child in a family of 4, I saw my three siblings drop out of high school without any
significant achievements. This wasn’t a result of my parents' financial challenges, but the
sociocultural context. Growing up, I have seen parents lament the future of their children in an
increasingly challenging economic society. This gave me the push to not give up on my dreams
to become the first in my family with an advanced-level certificate and to make my parents,
especially my mother, proud.
I left the toxic environment of Kumba at the age of 7 to live with my elder sister in Foumban, in
the West region of Cameroon. There, I noticed a clear contrast between students in Foumban and
those in Kumba. This kept me thinking of the different ways students in Kumba could resist
negative peer pressure and concentrate on their studies. At 15, I returned to Kumba and lived
with my mother, who struggled with her plantain business at the Kumba Market. I would go to
school in the morning, and after school hours, I would rush to the market to help her. On
weekends, I would volunteer at the Ocean City radio station as a presenter on the youth
program—Generation X. I found fulfillment in studying and helping my mother make means for
me and my two brothers. When I had my Advanced-Level certificate in 2008, my mother was the
happiest woman in the world. Her happiness motivated me to continue with my education.
After I had enrolled at the university, my dream changed from simply excelling at school to
making teaching and learning a lifestyle. A year later I got into the Higher Teachers’ Training
College-Yaounde, where I pursued my dream of becoming a teacher. Being a teacher has been
one of the most fulfilling achievements in my life. Through this profession, I am in constant
communication with students. I help improve students' literacy skills through book clubs and
read-aloud activities, enhancing their personal and professional growth. This explains my
motivation to join the Open Dreams community. The energy, passion, and talent in this
community are not only contagious but transformative.
As I continue on this path, I open my mind to many possibilities to grow my leadership skills in
education in order to reach out to as many students in low-resource areas as possible.

For some, education is a beacon of hope, yet for me, it often felt like a distant star—beautiful but seemingly out of reach.  Coming from a very poor background, I faced significant struggles to pursue my education. There were times when I was sent home from school, missing classes for months because my parents could not afford my tuition. Each time I returned, I felt the weight of lost opportunities pressing down on me, yet I was determined to keep pushing forward.

The journey became even more challenging when I lost my mother during my first year in college. Her passing left a void that was difficult to fill and added to the financial burden weighing on my family. Yet, in the face of these hardships, I found resilience. I took on multiple odd jobs, from tutoring to working in local businesses, not only to pay for my own college tuition but also to support my younger siblings. This experience taught me the value of hard work and the importance of education as a pathway to a better life.

Through sheer determination and the support from a Fulbright Scholarship, I graduated with a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Central Florida, achieving a perfect GPA. My academic journey, though fraught with challenges, became a testament to the transformative power of education. I have since dedicated my life to advocating for equal access to education, believing that every child deserves the opportunity to learn and thrive, regardless of their background.

Among my proudest accomplishments are my contributions to educational projects that empower teachers and students alike. I coordinated initiatives that secured grants to fund educational programs in Cameroon, helping to improve the learning environment for countless students. As a mentor and educator, I strive to inspire my students to pursue their dreams, just as I did.

Today, I am committed to paving the way for others in my community and beyond, ensuring that the barriers I faced are dismantled for future generations. My journey has fueled my passion for education equity, and I continue to advocate for policies that provide all children with the opportunity to succeed.

"Dreams may waver under life's challenges, but resilience, adaptability, and relentless pursuit can
transform setbacks into stepping stones toward greater achievements." – Nteta Philip.
I dreamed of becoming a pilot, engineer, or physician throughout my childhood. These
aspirations stayed with me as I grew, fueling my determination to achieve them. After graduating from
high school, I enrolled at the University of Yaoundé 1, earning an undergraduate degree in Physics
Education and another in Physics. In Cameroon, medical and engineering training, then, was expensive
for families like mine, and there have never been opportunities for training in aviation. Besides, limited
spots were available in the existing programs, and admission often involved corruption. Given these
circumstances, I became a teacher by fate and continued my career in this field because it offered
opportunities to inspire learners and to pursue my dreams and aspirations. My passion for leadership,
which began in high school, continued to grow while I taught and promoted various initiatives through
school clubs and organizations, including the Local Youth Corner.
Inspired by my engagement in STEM clubs and a desire to keep progressing, I enrolled in an MSc
in Environmental Engineering jointly offered by the National Advanced School of Public Works in
Yaoundé, Cameroon, and the University of Padova, Italy. While progressing through the program and
teaching simultaneously, I participated in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) program at
Appalachian State University, USA, in 2015. This opportunity enabled me to establish new connections
with university faculty members and educators from various countries. As a result, I participated in the
International High School Teacher program at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2018. The programs
helped me integrate into international networks and opened doors to various collaboration, exchange, and
funding opportunities. Inspired by my experience in the TEA program, I initiated the creation of the
Cameroon Fulbright TEA Alumni Association in 2017, and I was elected as its pioneer president.
During my tenure, I established the foundation for the association to achieve non-profit status.
This designation allowed us to manage various projects sponsored by the U.S. government and to form
partnerships with organizations like Open Dreams, where I have been volunteering as a lead mentor since
then. Inspired by insights from these projects and my involvement with the organization, I applied for and
was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to pursue an MSc in Environmental and Resource Management at
Arizona State University, U.S.A. My participation in the Fulbright program has equipped me with the
competencies needed to tackle both current and future challenges identified through our projects. This
experience has motivated me to continue guiding graduates in their pursuit of opportunities at top-tier,
world-class universities through Open Dreams.