Scars are inevitable in our lives; See them as opportunities and then turn them into stars- Janet Adeogun

Talking to us today, on Nikkyo’s blog is the founder of The Eagles Reign Initiative. Janet Adeogun, is a motivational speaker, mother, award winning poet. And above all, a very passionate woman on matters of persons with disability. Come along as we have a beautiful conversation with her…

1. What inspired you to start the Eagles Reign Initiative?

The journey of The Eagle Reign Initiative started years before now as a dream I’ve always carried along with me. The passion for people with disability has always been with me as a teenager. The birth of The Eagle Reign Initiative came as a burden. A burden that brought so much pain in my heart owing to the vacuum created in the virtual learning system during the Corona Virus lock down. I noticed the virtual learning system didn’t cater for the needs of students with disabilities especially in my Country. [Nigeria] So I sent out a post of my willingness to start off a free online learning platform for students with disabilities. The post went viral and that’s how the journey started.

2. How many students started with you? And how were you able to teach them?

Five students reached out first then later we had over forty students. A WhatsApp general group was created. Then WhatsApp classes were created for the JSS 1 to SS 3 students. Students were taught through zoom. The zoom lessons were recorded, the videos were converted to audio and sent to the respective classes. Then the students grew to 100.

3. If these classes were done through zoom; it meant only one thing. Data consumption was inevitable. How did you manage that?

Yes, Data consumption was inevitable. I knew that from the beginning. What I did was out of my pocket, I was sponsoring students with data.

4. What’s a typical day like for you?

Smiles…. The most interesting part of my life is that there is no ‘typical’ day. My day comes as a result of the activities attached to each day being a woman with family and a job…

5. What motivates you? What drives your push?

My Passion!

PASSION is the willingness to suffer and die for what you love. 😍

6. You’ve got more blind students. How did that happen?

I reached out to as many students living with disabilities as possible but only the visual impaired reached out. We have over 95% of them but recently we are reaching out to the hearing-impaired students.

7. We hear your students have written the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in the last two years. How have they done. And what role has your organisation played in making this a reality.

Yes, our students wrote UTME and over 80% of them scored over 200. The role we played were self-sponsoring some students with full and part payments of their JAMB fees. Then a free online JAMB lesson platform was created in partnership with Countdown JAMB team headed by Abednego Jacob. This platform helped the students in preparing for their exams

8. What woman inspires you?

Many women have inspired me based on their different fields. To mention but few…

My mum, Mrs. Deborah Fasanya inspires me a lot.

Smiles… Growing up I’ve always admired Prof. Oby Ezekwesili, a woman who has great passion for education.

Helen Keller was a strong woman. She lost her eyes and ears, but she was able to touch many lives. I get inspired anytime I read about her.

The CEO of Haemophilia Foundation of Nigeria Mrs Megan Adediran inspires me a lot.

9. How do you manage your family duties alongside your Organisation and work amongst other personal duties.

First of all, I’m blessed with an understanding husband. I set my priorities; I have my to-do-list. I work around my free times…

10. What are the challenges you are faced with; running an NGO?

Human resources, financial, organizational system. For now, I use funds from my salary to run the organisation and then donations from loved ones.

11. Is there such a thing as a complete woman? How would you define her?

Hmmm… complete in what aspect. To me, a complete woman is a woman who caters for her family then fulfils her purpose thereby living her dreams in great determination to impact lives and make differences. So, looking at my definition of a complete woman. A Complete Woman exists.

12. You turned forty in August. What lessons have you learnt.

Yes oooo… smiles I turned 40 and it feels so good and exciting. I’ll wrap up the lessons I learned below.

• Mistakes are parts of life, embrace them, learn from them and then make the best out of them.
• Scars are inevitable in our lives. See them as opportunities and then turn them into stars.
• Having like-minded mentors and be tutored by them is the best decision I made.
• Discover your purpose and then fulfil them…
• Live your dream. No matter how big it is, hold on to it. It took me over 20 years to fulfil my dreams but one thing I did was to center my life around my dreams.
• Live to impact lives.

13. What’s next for the eagle girl? As you are fondly called

“Laughs”

Yes, it is big. My team and I are working on many things we won’t want to disclose for now. More competitions will be organised for students living with disabilities across Nigeria. For now, we will also be using our writing to create more awareness on the need to say NO to STIGMATISATION.

14. What’s your advice to parents, students, our readers, and other people who would love to do what you do from your little corner.

I’ll use my personal experience; I wanted to study medicine as a child and after my secondary school I couldn’t gain admission but kept struggling to apply for medicine. What my mum said to me one day changed my life, she said, “medicine is not your calling, your calling is in the field of education.” As a teenager, I wasn’t happy, but I took a bold step to venture into education. Today, I’m feeling more fulfilled.

Parents, my advice is to understand the nature of your child. Prayerfully guide them. Don’t impose your choices on them. Encourage and advise them in whatever they do. Be intentional about all that concerns them. Never ever compare your children with others. The Sky is big enough. Allow your children shine in their own way.

For people reading this, life is not a bed of roses. Try as much as possible to discover your purpose. Then be intentional about fulfilling it. I’ll leave you with these words, “shine your shine make others shine their shine.” Don’t compare yourself…

Nikkyosblog specially appreciates Janet Adeogun for her time and for sharing a lot with us in this session.
You can follow her on Instagram @janetadeogun💕

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