In 2006, Madam Regina Esime Djentuh, better known as Mama Esi, decided to dedicate her home to orphaned and otherwise vulnerable children. Grace, who had already been living with Mama Esi for many years, was very excited about the opportunity to fulfill her role as “big sister” and welcomed the new children to her home. In her new role, Grace has gone above and beyond her sibling duties. She has assisted with childcare responsibilities, tutored the children, and given out countless pieces of advice.
Grace leads the children by example, proving that hard work really does pay off. After graduating from Anfeoga Secondary School in 2011 Grace wrote her WASSCE, the nationwide exam, which allows a candidate to apply for a post-secondary school education. Unfortunately, despite doing very well in school, Grace had difficulty with the standardized test format of the WASSCE, requiring her to rewrite the exam an additional three times over the course of two years.
As though the p
ressure of the studying for the WASSCE was not enough, Grace, due to her desire to help children, began working as a kindergarten teacher at a local school while she prepared for her WASSCE rewrites. Although seemingly impossible, Grace became even busier in March 2013. After a horrific car accident left Mama Esi in critical condition, at the age of 21-years-old, Grace found herself as the surrogate director of Ryvanz-Mia Childcare International. Over the course of six months following Mama Esi’s accident, Grace did amazing job running all of Ryvanz-Mia’s day to day operations, including managing the budget, running the farm, and overseeing all twenty-three children’s daily activities. Grace was busy at all hours of the day, rising as early as two in the morning to get her studies done before the children awoke for the day. Despite her many roles, Grace did exceptionally well on her final WASSCE exam. Soon after receiving her WASSCE results, Grace found out that she was accepted to Nightingale School of Nursing, a highly regarded private university in Accra.
Grace completed her first of three years of nursing school in June. During her break between academic school years, she is completing her nursing clinical placement at Ho Regional Hospital. She is very excited that her first unit post is the children’s ward, as she hopes to one day open her own clinic that specializes in pediatric care for low income individuals. We truly are very proud of how hard Grace has worked to get to where she is today. We know that she will put as much hard work and love into her future career as a nurse as she has into her role of “big sister” and will realize many great accomplishments!
