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Single Mom With 5 Children Graduates from Law School; Inspires Millions

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Festus Conteh
By Festus Conteh 361 Views 4 Min Read
4 Min Read
Single Mom With 5 Children Graduates from Law School; Inspires Millions
Single Mom With 5 Children Graduates from Law School; Inspires Millions

Iesha Champs, who is now 33-years old, dreamt of being a lawyer since she was seven. However, a lot of things got in the way, she almost gave up on reaching her goals. Despite the scrambles along her pathways to achieving her dream she still stood uprightly.

“I really didn’t have any stable guidance at that time. My mom was addicted to drugs. My dad was deceased. And I was homeless,” Champs told CBS News. “I lived with friends or whoever would take me in. Then I got pregnant with the first of my five children, and things just went from there.”

In the midst of her constrains, Lesha thought of committing suicide but thanks to the pastor who eventually saved her life with a simple message.

“Pastor Louise Holman called me one day and said that God told her to tell me to go back to school and get my GED, because that lawyer I wanted to be, I’ll be it!” Champs recalled. “I thought it was a little crazy because I was too old and I had three children with my fourth child on the way.”

Read Also: Priscilla Asikhia sets world record, bags Bachelors degree at 19, Masters at 22 and PhD at 25 years old

Champs enrolled back in school and eventually earned her GED from Houston Community College. She then went to Houston Community College, then the University of Houston-Downtown to get her Bachelor’s degree. This coming May, she will be graduating from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

Definitely, raising five children at the same time studying law is not an easy task. But with the help of her children, she became successful in both.

“They would help me review with flash cards while I cooked. They would sit as a mock jury while I taught them what I learned that day,” Champs said. “I would sit in my closet and pray and cry because I was overwhelmed and my oldest son, David, would gather his siblings, give them a snack, make them take a bath, gather their school clothes, all to make things easier for me. And I had no knowledge of him doing that until I went to do it!”

Champs commissioned a set of photos to commemorate the achievement. “I took the pictures with my kids because they helped me through school. They’re graduating too!” she said.

In the photos, she was holding a chalkboard with the words, “I did it!” written on it. Her children stand behind her holding chalkboards saying: “We did it!” “I helped too!” “Me too!”

The photo immediately caught the attention of netizens and already garnered thousands of likes and comments on social media.

“When I look at the pictures, I cry, I smile, and I’m very grateful,” Champs said. “I see a woman who at one time knew that the odds were against her. Looking at that picture reminds me of the fact that I didn’t just defy the odds, me and my children destroyed them.”

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Festus Conteh is an international youth that functions conveniently in all forms of writing including article writing, news, script, content writing, constitution and project/proposal writing. Writing is fun to Festus and has brought fame and recognition in his clime. In 2019, he was awarded best upcoming writer in an online writing completion that was organized by the Association of Sierra Leonean Authors (ASLA). After his impactful contribution to national development and cohesion through writing, he was nominated for the African Genius Award for the Best Writer in Africa Award Category an award he lost to one of the greatest African Writers - Chinua Achebe. In 2022, Festus was one of the applicants to the Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) as Vice Chairperson (Policy and Advocacy) a process that met imperil feedback. As a freelancer, Festus has written articles for magazines, newspapers, and media houses and his articles have attracted big media houses including BBC, Aljazeera and Legit. Ng and is the Head of Programs at Salone Messenger a public relations firm based in Sierra Leone with the latest news and information. He is the founder of Africa’s Wakanda a platform that spotlight the beauty of Africa. Festus is also a perpetual volunteer in life-changing causes and has shown great commitment and dedication to being a catalyst and solution to the challenges faced by young people like himself. Festus currently serves as the Secretary General of the Africa Youth Leaders movement which is a network of youth between the ages of 20 – 30 years who have shown achievement, leadership potential and commitment to make a difference. Festus is also the Africa Focal Point of Youth for Change Initiative, which is a platform through which young people can access resources, be empowered and given the opportunity to grow to become useful members of society who will participate in the development of their communities and nation. Along with another Africa Youth platform, Festus has Co-Founded the Future of Africa initiative which is an advocate forum with the aim to bring together local and international socio-economic stakeholders to support innovative programs aimed at advancing the radical and practical progress of adoption awareness-vulnerable children and youth and youth leadership-through interlinking local, regional and international resources and opportunities.