Nigerian musician Joeboy recounts an emotional story of how his own childhood struggles led him to establish a foundation to help kids in similar circumstances.
Joeboy recently discussed his experiences of being sent home from school because of unpaid fees with Isi Ijewere on the “Backstage Banter with Isi show.” He talked about how this event inspired him to change for the better.
Joeboy claimed that he regularly owed school fees during his junior secondary school years, which resulted in awkward circumstances. He related a specific instance in which his classmates would make fun of him, expecting him to be sent home since he had not paid the fees.
He claims that this incident had a profound effect on him.
He stated that this painful memory sparked a desire in him to help others who face similar challenges.
He said:
“When I was younger, I used to owe school fees a lot and it used to get embarrassing. When I was in jss3 , the secretary that used to come names of those owing fees came and before she even began announcing, the whole class said my name ‘Akinfewa joseph’. It pained me!.
“It hurt me so much and I went back home and told my parents that I was never going back to that school again. I didn’t care, I pulled myself out that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“That gave me the dream to do something, which was to help people who can’t afford to pay their school fees so I just opened a foundation; the young legend foundation. I opened it two months ago and we’ve been paying people’s school fees, so my inner child is very excited about that. It’s crazy what something like that can do to someone mentally. I mean it’s not the child’s fault that they can’t pay their fees right? But people made it seem like it was my fault and it was embarrassing and it paid me that time.”
