My name is Beroro Efekoro and I am the founder of the International Organization for Education Inc. 2013 was the year I was watching the news when it was reported that many high school children were struggling to stay in school. The report said about 40% to 60% of high school children were dropping out even before they become seniors. That took me back in retrospect to when I first came to the United States in 2008. I was enrolled at Boys and Girls High School, Brooklyn, New York. The first half of my first year in the school felt like hell because I could not understand what the teacher was saying. I hated school so much that I wished the night lasted forever so I never had to go back to any classroom. But somehow I managed to succeed.

 

The very thing that kept me motivated to do better was me knowing that my teachers saw me as a smart kid who only needed extra help to get on track with my the other students in my class. One of them placed me next to a fellow student in the classroom from whom I copied lectures. I also had a mentor outside the classroom who believed so much in my hidden abilities. By the end of my first year I was on track due to the extra help I received within and outside the classroom. I started performing very well and was able to run for and be elected Senior Class President the following year. That was the beginning of my many achievements that followed unto college, but it would not had been possible without the extra help I received from people I knew and some I never met, just nice people. 

 

My struggles did not end in the classrooms. I never had a good sneaker to wear as a kid and some of my peers always laughed at the big shoes I wore to class. The shoes were given to me by my father; good quality shoes he bought for himself a long time ago, but they were over sized for me. Some of the kids who wore better sneakers bullied me continuously because they thought I came from Africa to take what rightfully belonged to them. They were not bad kids I must say, just kids who wanted more attention. At some point I felt I was all alone in this world. Some of those kids see me sometimes today as grown-ups and they regret whatever they had done to me.

 

Hearing the news report on how children were struggling in school caused me to remember my struggling days at "The High" as we call it. It also forced me to imagine how well I was doing at the University at Albany and how my walls were covered with academic awards. Then I knew It was time for me to help those children who are underperforming and reach out to those children who are putting on those same shoes I used to wear. That journey led to the founding of IOE as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to promote global literacy. Please join me today in making education available to every child anywhere in the world. Take Action Now!