🍞 ✡️sheila retweetledi
This is Dammy (Damilola) Feyide. She was in her 20s when she returned from the UK to Nigeria in 2017, ready to complete her NYSC and likely head back abroad. But today, the story is completely different.
What started as a one-year service term became a lifelong mission. One afternoon, a nudge from the Holy Spirit caused her to stop her car at a correctional center. She didn't see "criminals" or "street kids"; she saw a reflection of Jesus’ heart. She saw children with doctor-sized dreams living in paint-starved realities.
She started by giving money to children on the street and going to the correctional facility with gifts, but the Holy Spirit kept convincing her that there was more. That conviction led to the birth of Let It Shine Academy (LISA), a FREE boarding school for secondary school students in Lagos, Nigeria.
About 270 students are enrolled in her school. No tuition fee, no hostel fee, no feeding fee, no uniform fee, no textbook fee, everything is provided for free. A standard private secondary school for free in Lagos.
In a society where many children are pushed to the margins because of poverty, instability, family background, or lack of access, she chose to create a place where children can still dream, learn, grow, eat, create, think, and become who God wants them to be.
Today, LISA is a beacon of high-quality, completely free education. While the foundation is built on Christ’s love, the school is filled with children of all religions.
As I shared with my sisters Grow Her Faith Fellowship last week, faith isn’t a wall to keep people out; it’s a bridge that invites everyone in. When we serve, we don’t ask for a creed; we look for a need.
We often ask ourselves, "What is the meaning of life?" The answer isn't found in the degrees we earn or the titles we hold. The whole essence of man is to live for impact. We are stewards, not owners, of the grace we've been given. If your life doesn't leak hope into someone else’s darkness, are you truly living?
Impact isn't about having it all figured out. Dammy didn't have a background in education; she just had a "Yes" and a God who backs those He sends.
I love women who live beyond applause, who are not just building names, but building lives. Women who are not waiting for perfect conditions before they begin, women who understand that purpose is not always glamorous.
Dammy’s work reminds me again that impact is not about how many people know your name. It is about how many lives breathe better because you obeyed what was placed in your heart.
Education is one of the purest forms of impact. When you educate a child, you change their language, their exposure, their confidence, their options, their family story, and sometimes, the direction of an entire generation.
That is why I will always be drawn to people who build in this space, because clarity helps people see, education helps people rise, and impact helps people live better.
Dammy carries all three with conviction. I believe she deserves to be celebrated.
Today, I celebrate Damilola “Dammy” Feyide, for choosing to be a bridge between disadvantage and dignity, between “someone should do something” and “I will start where I am.”
May we never become so busy chasing visibility that we forget the beauty of living for impact, and may more women rise with the courage to build what they wish existed.
Let this be your stir to action: Stop waiting for the perfect timing or the full bank account. Go where the burden is, go where the heart breaks. Just as Dammy shows us, you won't know how deep the well of Grace is until you start pouring it out for others.
Dear Dammy, keep living purposefully and intentionally; the heavens are documenting your impact.
Tolu lope Ajayi
#impact #freeschool #nigeria #education #Bugatti
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