Mekila's story does not fit into what I have conceptualised as "love letters". Mekila got the Mastercard Foundation Scholarship while he was rounding up the second year of his bachelor's in Cameroon. it was the first scholarship he ever applied for. Throughout the conversation I had with him, I kept asking myself "What is the chance that I can base all my scholarship applications on asking google questions like "google, how do I make a killer academic CV, or google how do I write a killer SOP" because that was exactly what mekila did. I am not sure if that is what you are looking for here. but Mekila has an interesting backstory I encourage everyone to listen to, in the hope that you will find this story as inspiring as I found it. Love letters is a podcast series about scholarship rejections and attempts. Beyond scholarships, it tells a more foundational story of ambition, dreams, and the stuff of success.

Badi’u graduated with a CGPA of 3.95 out of 5 from the university and spent two years building a scholarship-worthy CV. He took us through his journey of little dreams from his countryside home, the many “We are sorry to inform you” letters, and how he got a fully funded Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to study in Europe. Listen to this episode and subscribe to the Made of Chaos podcast to get notifications for new episodes!

What do you do with a third-class degree and a big ambition to study a master’s in International Law at a top university Uk? You are about to find out! From losing her dad at a very tender age; to self-funding her way through university despite all odds, the chaos was stockpiled against Ngunan. Listen to this episode and subscribe to the Made of Chaos podcast to get notifications for new episodes!

A year ago, I got two fully funded prestigious scholarships to study abroad (a MasterCard scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh and an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to study in France, Germany, and Portugal) with a CGPA of 3.95, no IELTS and no scientific publications. I’ve had people contact me to tell me they applied for the same scholarships. That they have first class, IELTS, and publications. I’ve also reviewed many applications seeking scholarships and heard stories of frustrations and people wanting to give up at a few trials. I know we tell many success stories on social media, but only very few people tell their backstories. I love backstories because it helps me understand how people get to the point I admire. I know you’ve got a lot of resources out there about the processes involved in getting scholarships. Maybe what you don’t have enough of is BACKSTORIES. Backstories are what we must love because they tell us that beyond the very things we aspire for lies many trials, attempts, failures, and the desire not to give up. And that not everyone has life cut out for them in 1,2,3 steps. So on this first anniversary of my scholarship pursuit, I made a production of a series of scholars I’ve found their stories genuinely inspiring. You will likely find one of these stories resonates with your experience, and I hope you will draw inspiration from it. Love letters is a podcast series about scholarship rejections and attempts. Beyond scholarships, it tells a more foundational story of ambition, dreams, and the stuff of success. The first episode comes out in 6 days! Watch the trailer and subscribe to Made of chaos podcast to get notifications for new episodes!

This episode is a single one that highlights the experience of a trafficked Nigerian migrant in search of a promised land he paid.

By YEMISI OJO Investigations have shown that people don’t just become terrorist overnight. The root cause might as well not just be about ideology. From the several investigations, issues relating to family fractures, what was happening in school and in their personally lives, discriminations, and even yearning for revenge have come out as deeply rooted issues for why people engage in terrorism. This is a bitter truth we are not willing to accept.  I mean […]

By YEMISI OJO We know what rape victims go through. Unfortunately, we know too well because as much as we hate to know, the victims are our friends, our sisters, our children or our mothers. Sometimes, they are us. What we don’t know however is, what exactly lies in the mind of the rapist?  I mean what are they thinking? Revenge, pleasure, a show of power or just drunkenness? What exactly is in the mind […]

By YEMISI OJO To  mark the World Refugee Day 2020, we followed the stories of two refugees who are helping others refugees and displaced people in their community find back their lives; Aisha Bakari Gombi from Nigeria and Evariste Mfaume from D R Congo. fear. Aisha Bakari Gombi Popularly known as Queen Hunter, Aisha Bakari Gombi’s story is very close home. She was born a hunter in Borno state, Nigeria. As a young adults, Aisha […]

Rural education system in Nigeria and the personal stories of interventions.

Blessing Iorhuna was heavily pregnant when the farmer-herder crisis in her village started. She told us her story of survival, and how she lost her husband and son during this process.

By YEMISI OJO                                           Imagine you wake up one day, on a very good morning of the second day of a new year. Good despite that it is in a leather house at the IDP. Imagine again that you cooked, bathed your kids and had your whole day filled with fun, and that kind of […]

By YEMISI OJO I have heard stories of soldiers who died in warfare, and so far, I have come close to just one of them or a relative of one. She was in class that day, writing her exams, and the news came that her brother had been gunned down between the borders of Nassarawa and Benue state while fighting the herdsmen. What else should be her reaction? And she lost it. She is a […]

exactly a year mr Stephen started running from one place to the other because of the farmer herder crisis in Benue state and Nassarawa, I went visiting him at the Internally Displaced Camp in Daodu. And we had a chat.

By YEMISI OJO The National Youth Service  scheme is a compulsory one year national service undergraduates in Nigeria perform after school. This service is done mostly away from where they call home. In this episode, I and some corps members shared our experiences of serving in Benue state in the heat of the herder-farmer crisis and how that experience changed our lives forever.I hope you enjoy listening to this. Here is an excerpt to the […]