Be Inspired by this Young Woman from Makoko Who’s Defying All Odds to Get an Education

The story is the same in virtually all slums or rural areas – as a young girl, you’re expected to get pregnant/married as soon as you meet the biological requirements.

John Mary‘s story is no different, but she doesn’t want to go that route – a path many girls she knows have taken.

“As a young girl I’m expected to be married and pregnant, but for me that’s wrong, education comes first,” Mary told BBC Minute.

She got admitted into one of the universities in Nigeria last year, but couldn’t take the offer due to financial constraints.

She teachers some of the over 10,000 children who are out of school in the 100,000-person floating slum.

Mary earns $1 a day, but she’s on a mission, and we’re rooting for her. She wants to become a television presenter soon.

Watch her inspiring story below:

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“As a young girl I’m expected to be married and pregnant, but for me that’s wrong, education comes first.” … John Mary is a young woman living in Makoko – the world’s biggest floating slum. Many girls in the area outside Lagos, Nigeria, get pregnant when they are teenagers. But she feels getting an education is her way out of this kind of life. … About 10,000 children there do not go to school. She gets paid $1 a day to teach children, but is determined to leave and go to University.  #makoko #lagosstate #lagos #nigeria #naija #9ja #lagoslife #bbcminute @danikpoyi #womensrights #education #girlsineducation #feminist #feminism @splashfm1055 @thebeat999fm @bbcminute

A post shared by BBC Minute (@bbcminute) on Sep 20, 2018 at 6:43am PDT