GAMAID
- August 1, 2025
My name is Elizabeth Philip and I come from Esit Eket. During my final year of law school, I went through one of the hardest periods of my life. The money simply was not there. Tuition deadlines kept piling up, my family had already stretched themselves to the limit, and I was terrified that all the years I had poured into my studies might end without a Call to Bar. Most mornings I woke up with my chest tight, running figures in my head and wondering how on earth I would make it to the courtroom I had dreamed of since I was a young girl.
It was through my church family that I first heard about GAMAID Foundation, and what they offered felt almost too good to be true. They gave me loans without any interest at all, and the timing was nothing short of remarkable. In 2021, they provided between ₦23,000 and ₦25,000, which settled my first semester fees in final year. Then in December 2022, as I was preparing for my Call to Bar clearance, they stepped in once again with ₦70,000, and I was never asked to pay it back. The way it all came together still moves me when I think about it. It felt like an answer to a prayer.
Because of that help, I graduated on schedule and was called to the Nigerian Bar alongside my classmates, and fear that I would be held back disappeared. My family and I wept with joy on the day, because they had lived through every sleepless night and every anxious afternoon with me. When I walked into my first courtroom, I did so with my shoulders straight and my head held high, and I owe so much of that quiet confidence to GAMAID Foundation .
To everyone at GAMAID Foundation , the sponsors, the volunteers and the leadership, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You believed in me at a time when I was struggling, invested in me and you carried me across a finish line I am not sure I could have reached on my own. May God bless your work richly and continue to widen its reach, so that many more students standing where I once stood can find the same hope I found. Thank you for helping me become a lawyer