Nigeria’s Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin wins top 10 CNN Heroes Award for 2018
Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, a computer programmer in Lagos, Nigeria, who teaches impoverished women in Makoko slums how to code through a program run by her Pearls Africa Foundation is among the winners of CNN Heroes Award for 2018.
At an impressive ceremony yesterday, the award was presented to the winners one after the other. Abisoye’s humanitarian work stood out because she renders the service to impoverished youths in the Makoko area of Lagos State without charging them a dime. Some of her beneficiaries can now code, built websites and as and gain employment with reputable organizations or set u businesses for themselves.
Each of the to 10 CNN Heroes Award winners will receive a $10,000 cash award, and donations made to each of their nonprofit organizations matched up to $50,000.
- Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, a computer programmer in Lagos, Nigeria, teaches impoverished women in the city’s slums how to code through a program run by the Pearls Africa Foundation.
- Maria Rose Belding launched MEANS, a platform that reduces food waste by connecting restaurants and businesses with extra food to charities that feed the hungry.
- After she was paralyzed in a ski accident, Amanda Boxtel started Bridging Bionics — a nonprofit that provides high-tech physical therapy to people with mobility impairments near Aspen, Colorado.
- Dr. Rob Gore, an emergency physician in Brooklyn, New York, founded the Kings Against Violence Initiative, which leads anti-violence programs in his community.
- Luke Mickelson quit his high-paying job to found Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that builds and delivers beds to children in need.
- Susan Munsey escaped from a life of sex trafficking and in 2009 started GenerateHope, a group that provides housing, therapy and more to survivors of sex trafficking.
- At age 87, Florence Phillips still leads her nonprofit — ESL In-Home Program of Northern Nevada — which provides free English, computer and GED classes to immigrants.
- Ellen Stackable is a former English teacher who founded Poetic Justice, a nonprofit that teaches creative writing to incarcerated women in Oklahoma.
- Former US Army Corporal Chris Stout started the Veterans Community Project, which connects homeless veterans with housing and other essential services.
