Abuline Fofanah

My mom had a stroke (brain aneurysm) when I was one year old. She was declared disabled and we lived off of her disability. The following year my parents divorced. I continued living with my mom and siblings but I spent a lot of time with my dad (he didn’t live far away). He paid child support and took care of almost anything I needed.

Then on October 2012, I experienced an unexpected blow to my heart when my father died. I have never experienced such pain, confusion, or numbness as I did from his death. My father was a big guy with the biggest personality. He was a good dad and provider.

I always saw my father as a very smart man, so I was shocked to find out that he didn’t have life insurance and he didn’t have any money saved. We had to reach out to the community to help us bury him. Life insurance is important because it provides a financial safety net, which we did not have after the death of my father. There were many days my mom couldn’t afford groceries, couldn’t afford to take care of our necessities, and she struggled paying the bills and raising me on her own with no help. She had to go to the county many times so they could help pay our utilities.

To help provide for myself, I got a job while in school so that I could get the things I needed and take some of the stress off my mom. I also started receiving money from social security due to my father’s death. It helped me to pay for things at school such as sports fees, buy personal items, and food. The social security money will stop in May when I turn 18. My parents had an agreement that my dad would save for my college but he was not able to save anything. My mom could not save any because of her limited resources due to her disability. If he had life insurance, I would be able to use that money for college. My father did not leave me a financial cushion and that caused a lot of financial hardship because he was our only provider.

I do not have any scholarships and I really need the help so that I can be successful in college and after. This Life Lessons Scholarship would mean the world to me because it will help me pay for school and other school related expenses, but most importantly, it will help me to break the cycle of debt and financial hardship in my family and put me on the right path.

Thank you for your time, for helping people like myself who have lost a parent, and for making a difference because you truly are.