Malcolm X popularly said, “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”.
The importance of education can’t be overemphasized, hence, Wadi Ben-Hirki takes today’s spot as our Woman Crush Wednesday. Wadi is an education advocate from Nigeria, founder of the Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation which she created to impact the lives of the less privileged, marginalized and disadvantaged through humanitarianism and activism.
Wadi was only an undergraduate teenager when she took up the role to be the voice and advocate for those who have been silenced because of society, culture or life’s limitations.
Because of her work,Wadi was one of the youths selected to participate in the African Union Regional Youth Consultation on Human Rights (August 2016). She has been nominated for the Choice Humanitarian of the Year 2016 (AYCA), West African Philanthropist of the Year 2016 (CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Awards). She also won Nigerian Teen Choice Awards’ Choice Philanthropist of The Year (2015 & 2016) as well as Humanitarian of the Year (2016) at Covenant University.
The Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation runs several projects ranging from child marriages, gender equality and #Street2School which is an initiative working to take kids who are out of school back into the classrooms. Another impressive project is Love In The Midst Of War, an initiative running in north-eastern Nigeria and geared towards those affected by the Boko Haram insurgency; it seeks to spread love to the residents.
Wadi’s work is highly commendable as we hope she attains optimum success.