My ALU Miracle
Written by Idara Patrick
My Matriculation Day at ALU!
Before I begin my journey at the African Leadership University (ALU) with full comfort, it’s essential that I first share my testimony of GOD’s divine intervention that enabled me to gain admission into my dream university, defying all challenges. This picture was taken on the day of my matriculation at ALU. I chose to share this first because of how beautiful it is. Knowing what I went through before I made it to ALU, it’s best I start this testimony with my best picture yet!
It’s going to be a long read, but I promise you that it’s worth your time. I also hope that this inspires someone who is at the point of giving up to still hold on to that thin line of faith, and keep believing in GOD.
Image credit — Yandex images
HOW IT ALL STARTED
In February, 2022 while I was waiting to begin my first year at the University of Uyo where I had gotten an admission to study Computer Engineering, the Academic Staff Union of Universities popularly known as ASUU, decided to go on a strike that lasted for 8 months! At that point, I made the decision to start applying to universities outside Nigeria. Prior to this, I had already begun my preparation to write the SAT exams but I needed money to purchase a laptop for my computer programming lessons. So, I had to prioritize and chose to buy the laptop. I also started searching for schools that do not requite SATs during application, and Canadian universities were my best match, but I didn’t have the money for the application fees which are quite expensive. It began to feel daunting until oneday, I came across a sponsored post on Facebook(Oh, GOD bless the day I came across that post!) it was about the May 2022 Ikaze ceremony. I took a look at the pictures and didn’t bother to check the school out. Then I came across another sponsored post from ALU few weeks after that. I decided to look it up on Google, and I got really marvelled at the results. What really got my interest was the Software Engineering degree program. It was at that point that I knew ALU is the right school for me! Being a Software Engineer has always been my dream, right from when I began my senior secondary school and I was selected to be in the department of computer craft studies.
APPLYING TO THE SCHOOL
After reviewing the school’s website, I found the necessary documents for my application. I then created my account and started the application process in August 2022. The school’s annual tuition is $3000. I knew I couldn’t afford this so I indicated interest in financial aid. I wanted the full scholarship from Mastercard Foundation so bad cause there was no way I was going to afford the tuition even if I got a partial funding. I decided that the best thing to do was pray, and pray my way into winning a fully funded scholarship. The application wasn’t easy, I had to go through series of questionnaires, write an essay and I also took an exams. But I still finished anyway, and I finally submitted my application on the 25th of September during the early hours of the morning.
WAITING FOR A DECISION
After I submitted my application, I felt optimistic. I knew I was going to make it to ALU. I had this faith in GOD. I didn’t apply to any other university, I just wanted to go to ALU, on a fully funded scholarship. While waiting for a decision, I began to draw closer to GOD, this period really shaped my spiritual life. I prayed more and I began to think positively about a lot of things. My older sisters introduced me to an online prayer, New Season Prophetic prayers and declarations, popularly known as NSPPD. I would wake up every weekday around 6:30 am Nigerian time to join the livestream on Pastor Jerry Eze’s YouTube Channel. I wrote a list of what I wanted GOD to do for me while praying on this platform. Getting admission into ALU on a fully funded scholarship was the first thing on my list. I also joined the hallelujah challenge(an hour-long online praise program unto the Lord. from 11:59 pm W.A.T) hosted by Nathaniel Bassey in October 2022. I sang praises to GOD and also presented my request to Him.
November came and went, and December arrived with no response from ALU. I got scared and my faith began to shake. I was wondering why I didn’t receive a decision when I applied for the January 2023 intake which was supposed to begin the next month! I even thought I was rejected. I emailled the school on a sunday and also began another application for the May 2023 intake. I decided to go to my secondary school the next day to get my original WASSCE certificate. I was thinking it’s the little things like this that disqualified me since I only submitted my WASSCE result.
That morning, I joined the NSPPD morning payers as usual. During prayers, the pastor made a prophecy about someone who applied for something, then he concluded with ‘They will create a vacancy for you”. A lot of people pray on this platform, and it didn’t even click in my head that he was actually referring to me. In school, while I waited to get my certificate, I decided to check my email. I found out ALU had replied to the email I sent ealier so I hurried to check.
You can imagine the joy I felt after reading this! I wanted to jump and scream!!! But I was in the Vice Principal’s office so I had to behave myself. A few minuites later, I got my admission decision, but it was for the January intake and a lot of deadlines had passed. So the school advised me to defer my admission to May 2023.
My financial aid decision wasn’t reviewed yet, the school asked me to submit some documents before it can be reviewed which I did.
MY FINANCIAL AID
I didn’t get my financial aid decision until January 2023. I had already begun my first semester at the University of Uyo then. The day I got my mail, I was in school with some of my course mates. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw “Community Leadership Grant”, this meant no full scholarship!! I pictured my ALU dream coming to an end that instance! The grant covered $2000 out of the $3000 annual tuition. Where was I going to get $1000 from?? What about the other expenses?? I got emotional just thinking about it, and I picked up my backpack without responding to my friend who kept asking what was wrong, which I now realize was rude. Tears welled up on my way home, and I didn’t care if anyone saw. During the journey, I called my third sister and shared everything, and she responded with, “Is that why you’re crying? Pray!” I entered a tricycle and began to browse for scholarships. The deadlines for a lot of scholarships that I could apply for before May had passed and I wasn’t eligible for the remaining. You can imagine how frustrating that was.
Image credit — Yandex images
HOLDING UNTO A THIN LINE OF FAITH
As if that was not enough, I lost the online job I had on the last day of february. I wanted to give up on GOD. I asked a lot of questions like, “Why are you taking my job when you’ve seen me in such a broken state?” I needed answers. It didn’t just end there, I became really broke that I couldn’t even afford mobile data for internet connection, and I couldn’t join the NSPPD prayers. Most of the time, I found myself hissing after having long thoughts. I would go out to the living room and cry my eyes out while everyone was asleep. Then, I would roll on the floor and ask GOD to show me mercy. I felt hopeless, like I was trapped in an endless loop and no one could save me. During that period, I had a dream where I was pulled into a warm embrace by a presence I recognized as GOD, He comforted me and said He will never leave me, that was the first time I had such a dream. But I still felt hopeless because I couldn’t find evidence that GOD hasn’t left me.
February passed and April set in. I had to defer my admission from May 2023 to September 2023. At ALU, you can only defer your admission twice so that meant I had to look for every possible way to make it to ALU or I would lose this hard-earned admission! I began to push my mind to think of anything, just think of anything that would take me to ALU! I decided to create a fundraiser but I couldn’t bring it to public notice because I was scared! I didn’t want to beg for money online. So I told GOD to open doors for me that I cannot bring myself to solicit for funds online. I didn’t even know that what I was praying against was GOD’s plan. Due to the fear I had, I only posted the link to my fundraiser on my bios on instagram, twitter, linkedin, and any other social media I was on. I also emailed some alumni, but at some point I felt like I was acting like a nuisance to them so I had to stop. One of the alumni got back to me and made a donation which I am really grateful for.
THE PRELUDE OF MY MIRACLE
I came online oneday and decided to check my fundraiser from my bio on Twitter, and an anonymous had donated 15,000 Naira. I was so surprised, someone actually noticed my fundraiser?? I got motivated by this, so I finally summoned courage to post it on twitter. It was a tweet appreciating the annonymous.
This singular act attracted other people to donate to my fundraiser, and I got a donation of 76,000 Naira before the fundraiser ended. But that was not enough, I needed close to two million Naira to pay the remaining tuition and even book my flights.
Fast forward to July 2023. I saw a viral post on Linkedin from Anita Makori about how she got admission to study at Oxford last year but she could not secure funding so she had to let go of her offer and reapply for the next admission cycle. And this year, she was offered admission to three universities on fully funded scholarships! I got really inspired and I dropped a comment that paved way for me.
This happened on a Sunday. That week, there was a 14 days prayer and fasting that was going on, on NSPPD but I didn’t participate. I feared I was going to lose a lot of weight with that and I also love to eat anyway. But my instincts kept telling me to just participate. I felt like GOD was telling me to just give Him one day so I made up my mind to join the fasting on monday.
MY MIRACLE!
On Monday morning, I got up and joined the NSPPD morning prayers. I had a little issue with someone the previous night that left me shattered and I went to sleep that night crying. I told GOD, I didn’t want to attend my current school again because it’s messing with my mental health. I couldn’t quite follow the specific prayer points the pastor was emphasizing. Instead, all I could muster was a constant plea, “God, please, God, please.” Then, at some point, Pastor Jerry declared, ‘Today, you will receive your evidence!’”, “Some of you will receive yours before 24 hours, 1 hour, 48 hours”. I waved it off. I was thinking “I’ve been on this platform every other day and you keep saying the same thing, yet no evidence”. I answered an Amen and just laid back on my bed. I ended the prayers a few minuites past 8:00 am. At exactly 9:25 am, I got a message from someone on Linkedin and I hurried to check; the person had noticed my comment from Sunday and asked me for more details. I quickly explained everything and he offered to take care of the remaining tuition! I couldn’t believe what I had just read!
But that was not all, after paying my tuition. I realized there were other expenses like health insurance, flight tickets, accomodation, feeding that I still had to take care of. This left me worried, I began to fear again. I said to myself “If GOD started by paying my tuition, He won’t leave me astray”. But when the deadlines for me to choose my campus life selections and pay for my health insurance approached without any intervention from GOD, I felt my whole world crashing down. The deadline to choose my campus life selection was on August 7th and we were in the last week of July. I wanted to go crazy!! I created another fundraiser, and this time around I posted it on Twitter and on Linkedin. The outcome wasn’t so good, so I had to go to the dms of some popular people on twitter and on linkedin, to ask them for a repost in order to reach a wider audience. A popular person on twitter helped me repost the tweet I made about the fundraiser and I was able to reach a lot of people, but very few people donated. I didn’t feel like continuing at this point. On wednesday night that week, I cried my eyes out till I fell asleep, I watched a replay of the livestream on NSPPD that morning (“O LORD show me mercy”) and just poured out my heart to GOD. I woke up on thursday with sore eyes.
On Friday, I woke up quite early and published another post concerning the fundraiser on Linkedin before joining the NSPPD morning prayers. During prayers, Pastor Jerry said “You will receive your evidence today!’. I was too broken to even believe this, I just laid there and asked GOD to show me mercy. After prayers, I laid back and slept, I didn’t even have breakfast. Food didn’t make sense at that point. When I woke up from sleep, I picked up my phone to check if there was any progress with my fundraiser but felt disappointed as usual. That moment, someone sent me a request to connect on Linkedin which I reluctantly accepted. A few minuites after accepting the request to connect, I got a message from my new connection who I would love to keep anaonymous. She told me she experienced difficulty when she tried to donate and would love to get another means of donation. I paused for a few minuites, trying to assimilate what I had just read! “What??” I exclaimed.
Photo credit — Yandex images
I paused for a moment to catch my breath before responding. Following our in-depth conversation, we hopped on a call, and after a brief chat, she assured me that I no longer had to fret about the cost of studying at ALU — she would cover all expenses until I graduated. It felt surreal; I had to pinch myself to ensure it wasn’t a dream. I was so happy, I didn’t even realize when I started jumping and screaming “O my GOD, thank you! Thank you so much!”.
After the call, she asked for the cost of everything for my first year at ALU, including flights, accomodation, and other accompanying expenses which I hurriedly presented to her. She made a donation but I couldn’t receive the money fast since it was an international transaction and it was on a weekend. I had to wait till Monday.
While waiting, I was worried the flight tickets were going to increase before the money arrives and I started fearing again. Little did I know that GOD had another wonderful surprise for me! I received a message from someone on twitter. It was a short and simple message asking if I had gotten the money I needed to go to ALU. I replied, mentioning that while some promises had been made, I hadn’t secured the full amount yet. The person asked how much I needed, and I detailed the costs for flight tickets and health insurance, which were my main concerns. After sharing my account information as requested, I received the exact sum within minutes. I stared at my phone for some time. I got up and started pacing around the room, I couldn’t comprehend GOD at that moment.
I remembered what pastor Jerry usually says after prayers “when you receive your testimony, how will you shout? How will you dance? Is that all you are going to do?….” I was smilling from ear to ear. I hurried back to Twitter and thanked the person for the donation. I also got online that evening and booked my flights, I felt so relieved that moment.
On monday, the donation arrived and I was able to cover the remaining expenses. I felt so happy, I smiled genuinely again for the first time in months. The first half of 2023 was really horrible to me, there were times I wanted to run to an open field and scream out my lungs. From January to the first-three weeks in July, I felt so troubled. I cried every single day in the months of February to May, I know this sounds hard to believe but I really did cry. The good thing is that:
You can never cry before GOD and also cry before men.
If you are at your lowest point in life, and you are still trusting GOD for a miracle, hold unto that thin line of faith. The fact that you still believe GOD can do something, is faith. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Whatever He starts in your life, He will definitely finish it!
Screenshot from “GOD is in this story” by Katy Nichole
This entire journey has felt like a miracle. I recall sitting in the plane, gazing out of the window at the clouds, and thinking, “This is really not a dream?” Truly,
What GOD cannot do, does not exist
I’m finally going to be studying Software Engineering at the African Leadership University, one of the most innovative Universities in Africa! I made a promise to myself, that I’m going to be a world renowned Software Engineer one day. It feels so good to know that GOD is a part of this journey, I won’t fail to deliver. From Akwa Ibom state in the South-South region of Nigeria to the world!
