James Akaba

In my little community, in Bamenda – Cameroon, where I grew up, education was a dream to many! Before I finished elementary education, my parents retired and there was no obvious source of funding to keep 14 of us going. Our destiny was left in our hands. Like a car that wouldn’t start and needed a push, I knew that my elementary education was a push enough for me to accelerate. I was privileged to have had the push



Thus the transition from high School to the University was more financially challenging; my studies got interrupted twice for lengthy periods of time. Since I was at the edge of academic survival, I stepped up my effort and it paid off – my skills in Computer, thanks to the books the British Council Library made available, fetched me a part time job as an accountant in a multinational company! I wasn’t a trained accountant but my science background and willingness to research and acquire new knowledge and skills enabled me to deliver the goods in a timely and professional manner. This earned the admiration of my boss and he entrusted me with lots of responsibilities. From this, I could earn enough money for my academic pursuits.



Today I choose to devote my life to paving the way to a decent education to my fellow Africans, so we can overcome poverty, disease, dependence etc. I serve my country, Cameroon, as a Physics Teacher and I also run a couple of other affairs in the business and academic (professionalization) sectors. Before the birth of Open Dreams, I had earlier setup a motivational group, Make it Big in Life (MIBIL) to act as a bridge between my students and educational opportunities the world over; the success has been awesome! I now manage all of our operations in Bamenda as well as our summer Open Dreams Academy.