How Selling Akara Inspired ₦100m Target To Train 50 Doctors
By Ferdinand Olise
A Non-Governmental Organisation, the Destined Child International Foundation, DCIF, has launched a fundraising initiative targeting ₦100 million to support 50 financially disadvantaged, but academically qualified Nigerian medical students
The initiative by the DCIF, also known as the Dreams to Degrees Akara Project, seeks to mobilise public support and partnerships to help under-privileged students complete their medical education and likewise serve under-served communities.
Speaking in Abuja at the unveiling of the project, the Executive Director, DCIF, Dr Maryrose Oduche, said the initiative was inspired by her mother’s determination to keep her educational dreams alive. She said her Mother achieved this by selling akara despite the family’s financial difficulties.
She said this initiative aims to support students
determined to become medical Doctors by ensuring that financial difficulties do not deprived them of their dreams.
“Behind every aspiring Doctor is a story of hope, sacrifice and determination. Some students have the ability and commitment to become excellent doctors, but their families struggle, like my family struggled, to meet the cost of medical education.
“We believe financial hardship should not automatically close the door on their dreams. That is the problem Dreams to Degrees seeks to address”, she said.
She further stated that the organisation had already supported two students studying Pharmacy and Nursing.
Dr Oduche, recalled her experience and the difficulties her Parents passed through in paying her school fees, noting that her Parents stopped paying her school fees after her first year in secondary school, a situation that forced her to remain at home for about a year.
According to her, her mother took a bold step and decided to sell akara to raise money for her education. Dr. Oduche said this sacrifice by her Mother positively shaped her life and commitment to supporting vulnerable people.
She strongly affirmed that a modest business no matter how meager, can transform lives, especially when channelled into education.
“Do you believe that selling akara can train people in school? Yes, I do. Do you believe that we can use the selling of akara to train 50 medical doctors?” she asked, urging Nigerians to support the initiative.
Sometimes, the seed of a great vision is hidden in the simplest things. For me, that seed is akara”, she said.
She said the initiative is not only to fund medical education, but also to nurture a network of medical Doctors committed to improving healthcare access in underserved communities.
She also outlined the organisation’s broader development agenda, which include feeding programmes, access to clean water, education and skills acquisition, noting that the organisation had provided meals to vulnerable people, including the sick, elderly and homeless, every Saturday for the past eight years.
According to her, the DCIF also plans to establish sustainable feeding centres across Nigeria’s 36 States and also is working towards tuition-free schools for orphans and disadvantaged children, alongside vocational training and empowerment programmes designed to help beneficiaries become self-reliant.
She said the organisation’s wider vision is to build communities where poverty, hunger and inadequate access to education and basic services no longer prevent people from living dignified lives.
Dr. Oduche further said the organisation’s strategic priorities for 2026 to 2030 include emergency relief, water, sanitation and hygiene, health and nutrition, education and protection, livelihood recovery, community engagement and accountability.
According to her, the Dreams to Degrees project will rely on collective support to educate future Doctors and improve healthcare delivery.
She therefore called on individuals, businesses and other partners to contribute to the fundraising campaign, stressing that the investment can help produce medical Doctors equipped to serve communities with limited access to healthcare.
