We asked ONE members for submissions to The Big Read book — a collection of stories from people around the world supporting education for everyone. Although only one member story will be published in the book, the runner-up submissions, including the one below from Dr. Dorothy A. Maddox of Fairfield, California, were so good that we wanted to share them with you.

You can show your support for The Big Read and help ensure a pathway out of poverty for children around the world. Endorse the book by adding your signature here.

Thanks for reading!

-Emily Stivers

From Brownsville to Bimishi Village

By Dr. Dorothy A. Maddox
Fairfield, CA

I grew up in the southern part of the USA, Brownsville, Tennessee during the 1950s and 60s, the times of the civil rights movement. My parents were good people, but they were oppressed on every side. My family was extremely poor. I had eight siblings. We lived in a three room shack. We made a living from the land that we lived on.

My parents were not educated, as my mother received a third grade education, and my father may have graduated from eighth grade. They were hard-working people, believing that if they worked hard enough, their hard work would eventually be rewarded. My father taught us that the only way that we could ever improve our lives, and the lives of our children, was to get an education. Therefore, I was motivated by the idea that if acquire an education, I could thereby improve my living conditions. Daddy and Moma taught us that if we got a good education, no one could take an education away from us.

As a result, I am convinced today that if children in underdeveloped countries were to receive an adequate education, they could improve the conditions and quality of their lives and improve the conditions and quality of life within the country in which they live. Therefore if we pour into their lives today, Africa would reap a harvest in due season and the children of Bimishi village will be equipped to pour into the lives of others.

I have earned a Bachelor of Science, Master of Social Work, Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry. I worked very hard to earn my education, and I have no regrets. Currently, I am a Christian Therapist, and director of a Christian Counseling Center in Fairfield, California. My specialty is in the area of reconciling broken marriages, broken individuals, and broken families who are alienated from themselves, their God and others.

My husband and I visited Bimishi Village in Abuji, Nigeria in 2006. The village has a total number of about 475 children who desperately need some of the basic necessities of life. It is important that these children receive an adequate education for the purpose of building up and strengthening themselves, and for the purpose of contributing to their families, their village, and their country. Overall, they need an education so that they may improve their quality of life, and the quality of life of their village and country. We must understand, then help them to pull themselves up from the place where they are, so that they may understand and then help to pull others up from the place where they are.

Please remember Bimishi village in Abuji Nigeria in your thoughts, your finances, and most importantly, remember Bimishi village in your prayers.