DEDE AYANOU-OUATTARA
BEING A GIRL, WHAT MAKES YOU POWERFUL IN THIS COMMUNITY?
"I think when you’re a girl, one thing that makes you powerful is knowledge because people always think boys have more knowledge but I feel like knowledge is the most important thing… and hard work because it’s the only thing that can really help you."
WHAT ARE SOME EVENTS THAT HAVE IMPACTED HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING A GIRL?
"It was last year when I came here and I didn’t speak English at all. So that was actually hard, everybody n class, especially the boys would always be laughing at me when the teacher would ask a question because I just cannot answer. So, I guess that made me realise, I have to work harder to compete because that was the same with soccer. I generally don’t run quite fast but last year, I decided to try soccer and the boys again were always laughing at me because you know when you do soccer, you always have to run laps. I would just never finish it, so I had to work harder and harder to compete with the other girls."
TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR FUTURE PLANS AND DREAMS...
"I want to be a neurosurgeon… I don’t really know why, it’s just something that was there which means I have a lot of work and a lot of precision but it really helps people move mountains."
DO YOU HAVE A ROLE MODEL, SOMEONE YOU LOOK UP TO?
"It’s not really somebody but I feel for me, it’s time as a factor because in this time, I feel like there’s never been somany women that have done extraordinary things and there has just been so much power for us to just change through."
IF YOU WERE TO BE PORTRAYED IN A PORTRAIT OF YOURSELF, HOW DO YOU SEE IT?
"I see myself as a hard worker, someone who never gives up as I had to change my culture and lunges three times in a row… I had to work hard to learn three new languages."
