Yawa Agbenowossi came to the United States from Togo, in West Africa, as a young child. She discovered the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester when she was in middle school.
YAWA: Well, before I found the club, I just never took anything into consideration. I was never worried about the future. I found the club by a friend introducing it to me actually. She said that “you can come to the Boys and Girls Club” and soon enough I was coming there every day. They couldn’t keep me away from the club. That’s when I started to change.
Just the way that people are there, they’re so welcoming and they will always be there for you no matter what. I eat there because sometimes when I go home I don’t eat because of the lack of food and stuff like that. It’s just given me something more than I could ever have in my life.
I’m very different because I would say that I feel like I have a future, like I mean something. I am going to become something with my life because before I didn’t even have any hopes or dreams. I am actually a high honors student and I take school very seriously now, I never did before. My dreams are to graduate from college with a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and communications; and travel all around the world and bring up problems that may not have been brought to attention. I’m really happy that when my other friends chose to go left, I went right. So, I really like that I did find the Boys and Girls Club.
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