This is a story I want the whole world to hear. I am a girl who grew up in a village with five siblings, three boys and two girls. My dream has always been to become an electoral commissioner or a worldwide journalist, and to be able to support my family financially. When I told my mother about it, she told me my elder brother is the only one that can make things better for my family when he becomes a doctor or a teacher. But one thing my mother did not know was that my dreams are far greater than becoming a doctor or a teacher. There was a time when I lost all hope of achieving my dreams. My...

Dear girls my age, I write to encourage you to pursue your dreams. I have come to realize that in every situation, there are people who will encourage you and others who will discourage you. I had always wanted to become a prefect in my school, and I shared this ambition with my friends. They told me that being a school prefect is too great a burden for a girl to carry. Rather than listen to those who discouraged me, I heeded to the words of those who stood by me and encouraged me.

My name is Joyce Owusu Ayeenimako, I'm 17 and I'm from the Volta region, in Ghana. I am in the final year at Sokode Senior High Technical School and I always wanted to defend the rights and liberty of the young ones, especially females. I aspire to be a legal journalist. And I am also optimistic that my success is inevitable! In my community many people look down upon the girls because of the misconception that girls are only good in the kitchen. This makes me sad. As rightly said by the former president of the United States of America, Barack Obama: “Have the ambition and the can do spirit...

My name is Georgina Agbovi. I am 19 and come from Agotime, in the Volta region of Ghana. I am a girl living with a disability, but I am working hard and learning to become a fashion designer. One day I woke up and I could not walk. The doctors could not help me, and my parents did not care. I had to drop out of school because I was working to support myself and I could no longer work. My father brought me to the village, Agbokope, to live with my grandmother, who was sick and could not take care of me either. I met a man who offered to take care of me and my grandmother, but I later got...

My name is Musah Ajara, I am 15 years old and I come from Gbimsi, in Ghana. In 2018, my parents told me to stop schooling because they are poor and do not have money. Then I replied to them that, even if they do not have money for my school, I will continue to go to school. The first term examination was approaching and the school requested we pay for the cost of examination fee. All my class mates paid but I could not. My teachers then asked me why I had not paid my examination fee and I told them about my situation. I was allowed to take my exams and I placed first in the exams and I was...

My name is Nancy Enyonam Addrah and I'm a 23 years mother from Avee, in the Volta region of Ghana, and I attend Social Welfare Vocational Training Centre. I believe that girls who have children should not give up! They should go to school and achieve their dreams. I never listened to what people had to tell me in school, whether good or bad, for that reason nobody liked me. I completed Junior high school with a good grade. After completing school, there was no money to continue my education. I was not occupied at home, so I became curious. As we say, ‘curiosity killed the cat’. I had been...

My name is Adam Safiya, I'm 17 and I come from Gbimsi, in the West Mamprusi Municipal of the North East region of Ghana. I want to live in a world where girls are also allowed to go to school and no woman is maltreated! My parents celebrated me when I passed my Basic Education Certificate Examination, and they showed me that they were proud of me. I decided that I will never let them down, but take my studies seriously to become someone prominent in the future. I have taken my education seriously at the secondary school level as well, for if I want to succeed someday, I must understand that...

My name is Kipo Sophia, I am 19-year-old student of Tinga Senior Technical school, in Ghana. My hope is that girl education will be taken seriously, because we cannot develop our communities without the contribution of women. In 2016, I completed Junior High School and gained admission to further my education in the secondary level, but my parents had different plans for me. Despite knowing that my dream was to become a teacher, they told me to get a job and start working instead. I was 15 years old at the time. I tried to explain but they told me they wouldn't waste their money on my...

It had started long before I was born Settlements approaching, Not soon after we began to mourn Deforestation encroaching. We are helpless nymphs with our roots too deep. Nowhere to run too, just left to dream Of death coming closer, the nightmare it creeps. The end is near for all, it seems. The air is polluted. The atmosphere is heating, and the land is steaming. A wave of wildfires, melting ice caps, rising sea levels are upon us, yet they are still deluded That change is not important, that climate change does not exist, that are all just dreaming We hear the screams and cries of our...

My name is Emmanuel Clifford Gyetuah, a Ghanaian, and the Internally displaced persons (IDPs) & Migration Data Focal Point for the Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP) at the Major Group For Children and Youth. As part of my role, I recently led MYCP’s collaboration with UNICEF on the Talent on The Move Report, where we co-created a poll of six questions to learn about their aspirations to learn and earn and the barriers they face, and supported outreach to over 26,000 young people on the move in 119 countries, the writing of the report, as well as its launch. One of my major...

There came new dawn, the dawn that has brought us hope, oooh yes. Ghana is the first country in Africa to receive the vaccine to help fight the COVID-19 under the COVAX facility. Although we receive it with an open arm, tears of joy and all there is. We are still moaning. Unfortunately, misinformation about the vaccine is spreading so fast at an unmeasured rate. During the spread of the virus, our prayers and hope were for a vaccine to be developed to help curb the spread. I remember how I woke up one day, and suddenly, I was instructed not to go to school due to the COVID-19 virus. I remember...

As Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of the Republic of Ghana said, ‘If change is denied, or too long delayed, violence will break out here and there. It is not that man planned or willed it, but it is their accumulated grievances that shall break out with volcanic fury.” This has always driven me to be a force of change wherever I find myself. Just recently, I was elected the school prefect of my school. And this has offered me a new platform through which I can induce change. Growing up with blindness, I noticed that, the concept of educating the blind, was almost unheard of in my...

The beauty of words is that when you write a poem, come on stage, and perform for all you know you are making a change in someone's life. I believe young people can create changes in the future and that's the reason I have been empowering them with my spoken word poetry. I am a youth activist, poetess, and a professional teacher and I strongly believe in Africa's transformation and the potential of young people. This drives me to contribute to solving societal problems using my spoken word as a tool to give voice to the voiceless in my society. I delight in the freedom of expression and I...

People work for money, fame, higher education, big positions, and other aspirations, but I will rather earn 100 million smiles everywhere I go. This is because when people realize you are the only one recognizing their situation and giving them a helping hand, they become happy and more courageous. Over the years, children especially girls, have been abused in various ways and no one seemed to be talking about it in my society. For that reason, as a young boy, I decided to start the journey of change. I am a youth advocate, a gender activist, a leader, and an influencer. Child marriage...