 美味               hypothes   好         érêtICE  쪽 ING ฮ               composers                     Continue youtube   grundOTch Why? Okay, wear your shoes. Wake up, go to school. You want snacks, yeah? I'm gonna give you snacks to go to school. Where's your snacks? Yes, there's juice. You want juice? Okay, wear your shoes. Children of these days, swear. Children of these days, your various points. Okay, here we go. Where's your bag? You haven't even come to your hair. Where's your comb? Need to look sharp, okay? Look sharp, sharp in school. Good boy. Now let's go. Where's your school bag? Where did you put your school bag? You don't know where you put your school bag also? There it is. Don't forget your bag. Thank you. Before you go in, you have to check your temperature and wash your hands and wash your hands. Amazing. Okay? Good morning. Good morning. I've been in this class. Meet Miss Logulano. How school? Yes. It feels so awkward to go back to school again. Yes, you're welcome. It's a pleasure meeting you. My name is Maya from Ghana. You have to tell me your name and where you from. My name is Ekira Abudu. I'm half Ghanaian and half Nigerian. I nearly asked you because I had a name. Ekira, I'm like, Ekira is a Ghanaian name. Were you born and raised in Nigeria? Yes, I was. I was born and raised in Nigeria. My dad is Ghanaian and his family have lived here since before I was born. And I guess you're Nigerian now. Yes, I'm a Nigerian. My mom is Nigerian. I was born here. I've lived here although I went away for school to England. But this is my home. How long did you stay in England? For 12 years. 12 years? Yes. And why did you have to come back? Because Nigeria is home. I had finished my studies and it was time to come back. I came back for law school actually. I started as a lawyer. So you're a lawyer? Yes, lawyer turned educationist. Lawyer turned educationist? Yes. I'm a lawyer, a chartered administrator and an educationist. So why you decided to start a school? Why you decided to start a school? The opportunity came. The co-founder, my aunt who's passed on we had so rest in peace had wanted to start a school for a long time and we've been discussing it. So I was helping her to put papers together as a lawyer. Get a feasibility study going. And by the time I put everything together she was like this is amazing, why don't we do this together? And that's how we started I used to practicing the law no longer needed. You always needed because in everything you do there's a legal aspect. So that part of it I'm able to apply it to this. Which means you're doing it on a personal no longer commercial? How long has this school been in existence? 26 years on the 9th of January. We started on the 9th of January 1995 and to God's glory we are here. We weren't always at this site. This is our permanent site. We started in rented premises of our law road and we were there for five years. We moved there in 2000. And we've actually been on this site for 21 years. You said when you started the school the first place was rented. Now you moved this place. Was this one also rented? No it wasn't. In that other place we rented a small building we outgrew it rented the building across and we were there for four or five years meanwhile we had located this land which was actually all water at the time we saw it but we had the vision and we had the foresight to key in then and the land was sand filled but you can't believe that even though then it was water you would have thought we took us four years to pay for the land and then to build the school we had to get a loan from the bank which we repaid after a few years so it's been a journey but a good journey slow and steady journey slow and steady journey but let me know after all these days there should be something that keeps you moving definitely the passion and there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing the children that you've you know invested in and children you've helped to nurture become the wonderful responsible adults around there was one day I was traveling and on the plane there was a couple just married they were going on their honeymoon and when I was passing they were both kneeling down and Mrs. Abudu and I was like and there were ex students of Greenwood house school you can't imagine how fulfilling that is I mean the other day another childhood been to Greenwood brought her son to the school so you can imagine another generation I feel like a grandmother I'm very fulfilled doing this job it's my first day in school and I want to know which kind of students are accepted in here well we accept children from three months because we have a crush and we are also mindful of working mothers young working mothers who don't have reliable help at home or family to look after their children so we start from three months we have a class from three months to one year a class a toddler's class from one year to two then we have the play group and then we have nursery one and two and then primaries one to six unique than other schools in Nigeria I think that the fact that Greenwood is a family it's a very close knit community and everybody is one big family and that's one thing that makes us unique our academic standards have always been very high we've always been known for high academic standards discipline children and also well rounded children our children are very confident and in fact we are known for music as well and drama our plays are well known and in fact the musical society of Nigeria they used to have schools competition and at one time we were first year, second year, third year then we decided to bow out and allow other schools to take over would you love to take me around yes I would love to take you around Greenwood it would be my pleasure come on let's go okay so we're going to the baby's class first but you have to take off your shoes there's no one here at the moment but this is a baby's class the courts and the changing units the feeding units and sleeping this is a crash hello so as you can see in the nursery we use some Montessori material and so we mix Montessori and normal normal so hello everyone hello today this is our music room I'm going to play something while we're here quickly so this is our computer suite so of course because of Covid everyone has their own it's protected we have to put the perspective here this is yes this is a new innovation because of Covid this is our science room this is our science room one of the function rooms so the function rooms are the same size you know the school is purpose built all our classrooms are the same size and the function rooms science room music room art room are the same size they're quite big so these are our two very efficient science teachers and Mrs. Annika Udo is going to show us a quick experiment or is it the children you're doing something they're the ones doing it so what are you doing today and what does that involve using baking soda by cabinet of baking soda white vinegar as a liquid reduce the gas okay let's see what you're going to do quickly what you need to do pour in some okay pour in some baking soda into the glove pour in your white vinegar into the baking soda at least 200 ml put a little color from the dropper into the white vinegar opening the glove and you're wearing it on the baker it's a balloon wow your slipped off sorry but at least you saw the reaction thank you so much for taking me around your school if someone is living in Lagos and they want to find your school oh you can check our website www.greenwoodhousegold wow and this one is questions about Africa I know you lived in the diaspora for 15 years so 15 or 12 years 12 years and then you left came back to Nigeria and established this beautiful school you even started by renting a room and now this is a huge school African living in the diaspora right now do you think that it's worth it for Africans living in the diaspora to return back to the motherland most definitely because I think Nigerians are one of the most educated and the most talented people all over the world and it's a pity that we have so much drainage of that talent so please come back to Nigeria and let's make Nigeria great again wow you know you're here definitely you face a few challenges when you're establishing the school you have young entrepreneurs that want to be like you what was the major challenge that you faced I think no support from our government because when you want to set up a business in Nigeria you have to set up your own electric fund you need a generator you need a borehole I think definitely the infrastructure is not that good but you know at least we're able to provide things for ourselves we have our own mini government here we provide our own electricity we found water provide our own security clear our own drainage but that is one thing but I think that if you're passionate about what you want to do you can overcome and success the result if you have a chance to change one thing in Africa what will it be leadership I pray for good leadership leaders who are interested in the people trusted in education in health in governance and infrastructure that's what we need to make Africa the way it should be we have so many resources but unfortunately we're not seeing the results how many people have you employed so far I think over the years right now I have about 100 and 50 over the years I'm sure we've employed I don't know maybe about 600 but we have a lot of stuff who've been here from the day we started that's amazing I just want to say thank you so much for taking me around your school and I wish you all the best and hey I think my first baby will be in this school definitely thank you thank you Wode thank you Wode and his wonderful team thank you for coming to Greenwood house school and everybody you're welcome to come and visit us at any time when pack view estates in a koi one Greenwood house school road