Maureen-Johnson Niba
What’s your cause? Empowering Children
Why do you think it is so important?
I focus on empowering children to become more confident with themselves and help them explore their full potential. Self esteem is very important especially for children because it serves as a motivational function leading to very high performing kids. Children with high self esteem are able to cope with mistakes, do better in school, at home and with friends; whereas, unhappy children live with ongoing stress in life that can further lead to relationship breakdown and financial stress.
Tell us about yourself. What's your background? How did you become involved in your cause? What inspired you to begin living for change?
I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography. After graduation, I found myself in the oil and gas sector where I have been working for 11 years in 3 different reputable companies respectively; at Schlumberger Oilfield Services as Travel & Visa Supervisor, at Halliburton as Senior Administrative Specialist, and at Golar LNG where I am currently working for the third year now.
Besides my professional life, I had been so passionate in fashion and design since I was six years old and owe it to my late mum, who was a seamstress back in the days. I started as a loner and taught myself how to sketch and sew which motivated me in creating my own clothing line, Amorri Kente in 2018 to raise funds and help the less privileged in society. Amorri Kente has become a high end African fashion label popular for its craftmanship, vibrant pattern, vivid color wax interior and print accessories.
Now, I come from Cameroon, where we have very talented children and it is unfortunate that most of our children suffer from low self esteem issues which affects their personal development and leads to failure to thrive syndrome, poor social skills, problems in school and being afraid to try new things. Being successful professionally at my young age, the only way to give back to my community was to use my creativity to add value to young boys and girls, to develop their self esteem and talent through creativity. My daughter’s self esteem issues were also a great motivating factor to [start doing something] through the Elevate Esteem program. Elevate Esteem encourages young boys and girls to explore self esteem and identity through creativity.
What have you been doing to spread the word and/or to help your cause so far?
I have been organizing weekly programs with children where I engage them in creative activities such as singing, dance, drawing, paintings, public speaking, DIY projects such as recycling dresses, designing shoes, fabricating beads, recycling waste papers to home decorations and many others. During this COVID-19 period, we have been making and sharing videos to encourage other children to follow the hygienic procedures put in place by WHO (World Health Organization), and we also share some of our DIY projects to encourage other children to stay busy and acquire new skills during this challenging moment.
How and when will you judge success? What’s your end point?
At Elevate Esteem, we believe we have been very successful because about 90% of the kids were unable to express themselves at the beginning of the program but they are now very confident and speak without fear. About 80% of them have discovered their full potentials and are able to identify what they are best at. Our projects are ongoing and without an ending point because the idea is to educate the few children we have, and create school clubs, which can better help promote our message and get many more kids to build their self esteem, leading them to a successful future.
Complete this sentence: "I am #LivingForChange because..."
I am living for change because young children need to be empowered and given the confidence to succeed in a global community.
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