Someone Has to Tell These Children: “You Can Be As Good As Anybody!”

Abstract This chapter is a personal narrative by the founder and director of the Nneka Youth Foundation, a nonprofit organization serving youth in rural Ghana. The chapter begins with the author’s childhood and journey to Accra to work as a house help. It then deals with the author’s education, which she continued in her village and in Accra under the same conditions as a maidservant. The final section describes the formation of the Nneka Youth Foundation. This chapter is also a tribute to all mothers, and especially the author’s mother. Through all these life stages, one thing stood paramount: mother’s care. Thus, the Nneka Youth Foundation received its name from the exclamation from Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart : “Nneka!”, which means “Mother is really supreme!”