Sierra Leonean business owner and former beauty queen, Hawawa Turay has on Saturday, February 26, 2022, via her social media channel shared an inspiring story of how she finally gained admission to the university.

Mrs Hawawa Turay is returning to school for the first time in 10 years.

Hawawa who just got married to entertainment mogul and barrister Abu Bakarr Turay Esq. with one child is been admitted to the Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, and will be pursuing a degree in Mass Communications.

The business owner represented Sierra Leone in the 2016 Miss Universe Beauty Pageantry, after leaving school four years before that because of financial constraints, her performance in that pageant made way for her both in the country and beyond.

After Ten (10) years, I’m back in the classroom.

Like every other child, growing up, I had high hopes and dreams of finishing High School, head to College/University, and of course become a “professional” in my area of study. However, my dreams came to an abrupt end in 2012, just after my WASSCE. So in 2013, I took modeling as a profession and this served as an escape from the hardship and trauma that I was exhaustively in. Wasn’t much to gain in the beginning, but I was dedicated, disciplined and focused. IT PAID OFF.

Fast forward to 2022, I’m married to the love of my life with whom I share a beautiful baby girl. We also own businesses, having a registered company (details later), Lol. I have been blessed to be on some of the world’s biggest platforms (Miss Universe, Miss West Africa International, CNN, France 24, Trace DSTV etc..) and have also traveled a lot around the world. To God be the glory.

 

As someone with all of these privileges, it is normal for anyone to assume that I have it all and going back to school should be the least of my priorities, but as was said by Nelson Mandela, “Education is the MOST powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”. You are never too big to learn or to sit in a classroom. Never.

 

Back in school, I have always liked Communication. I liked the idea of being able to express myself freely. This fits perfectly in my line of business/businesses and has been one of my biggest motivation to resit the WASSCE exam as I didn’t get all my credits in the first sitting. “Mr Turay also nor gee me wan blo blo”. Looooool. I promised him I will do this. When you have someone who believes in you and pushes you to not be complacent with life, even the seemingly impossible becomes possible. In all honesty, I felt comfortable at some point but my husband became my constant driving force, reminding me daily of why this has to be done. I always keep my promises. So FBC here I am.

In achieving this, based on her words her husband played a vital role and she has made a promise of making him proud. “I promised him I will do this. When you have someone who believes in you and pushes you to not be complacent with life, even the seemingly impossible becomes possible. In all honesty, I felt comfortable at some point but my husband became my constant driving force, reminding me daily of why this had to be done. I always keep my promises,” she stated.

Her post has attracted a lot of attention across different platforms and she used the opportunity to also inspire young aspiring girls to not give up on learning because education is the most powerful weapon that can help change the world.

Finally, I would like to speak to every girl child and lady out there who wants to give up on learning. There are more of you who feel you can’t do it than those who have done it. It took me ten years, but I made it again into the classroom. You can do it too. It is so obvious that in this time and age, education has no substitute. Don’t give up!!

Mrs Hawa Turay (Nee Kamara)
(Miss Universe Sierra Leone 2016)