AMIDST ALL THESE, I OVERCAME AND I CONQUERED... DOC ZOE SHARES HER STORY FROM DIASPORA

IT WAS NOT AN EASY ROAD, I MADE FRIENDS, I LOST FRIENDS, I ENCOUNTERED MANY OBSTACLES, GOT LOTS OF EXPERIENCES AND I LOST MY MOST PRECIOUS MUM DURING THIS JOURNEY, AMIDST ALL THESE, I OVERCAME AND I CONQUERED

Prisca Onyegwara popularly known as Doc Zoe, is from Imo state Nigeria, she is the CEO of Excellent Health for Africa Initiative (Exhela Initiative), a non-governmental organization that aim to create a
Prisca Onyegwara popularly known as Doc Zoe, is from Imo state Nigeria, she is the CEO of Excellent Health for Africa Initiative (Exhela Initiative), a non-governmental organization that aim to create a healthy and disease-free Africa, through health education and medical outreach. She is a Public Health Consultant and an Influencer, she obtained her masters degree in public health in 2018 from the prestigious Monroe college in Bronx New York, she is also a certified health education specialize.
In our story from Diaspora, Doc Zoe shares the story of her journey so far in diaspora, she spoke about how she came to the United states of America to pursue her dreams, the difficult moments in her life and how she was able to overcome them and thrived. Doc Zoe came to the United states of America in 2014 as a visitor, she was invited to a conference to speak about the health challenges in Africa, after the conference she decided to remain in the country to expand her knowledge and to gain more exposure in her field, and so she searched for opportunities to go to school to obtain her masters degree. Fortunately for her, she got admitted into Monroe college to study public health.

She spoke about the various project she has been involved in, in the rural part of African, creating awareness on various health issues, educating the people on how to stay healthy and providing free medical screening and medication. When she first started out in New York, things were going on well, she was working hard to ensure that she actualize her goals, and was also looking forward to complete her master’s program so she could move on to the next stage in her career, but in 2017 things began to turn around for her, in January 2017 she lost her mum and this threw her into a deep state of depression and things came to a halt for her, because her mum was the closest person in her life, she was her biggest fan and a big source of inspiration who believes in her even when she think of doing the impossible.

After her mum was laid to rest, she struggled to get back on her feet again, she tried to take a break from school but with encouragement from friends and faculty members in her school she forged ahead even though it was not easy, but she turned to God in prayer for strength to move on. To overcome all her pains, she channeled her anger and frustration into her passion, her study and other things she wanted to do. In 2018 she graduated with honors, she was the best graduating student and also received the dean's award in her faculty. She also rebranded her organization, acquire more trainings in her field and also worked hand in hand with the SDG 2030 goals to ensure good health and to promote the wellbeing of the people in the rural areas. Although the challenges were still there, with her team members, accommodation problem, and other issues, She recalled how she was almost raped by the boyfriend of someone who accommodated her when she was having accommodation issue and a whole lot of problems and it got to the point that she almost gave up on everything and wanted to returned back to Nigeria, but she tried her best to overcome all these, and today things are going on well. Her advise to those who aspires to leave their country to pursue their dreams elsewhere is to make their research before they make the move to leave their country, to learn more about the country they plan to move to, have a game plan and also have the right mind set.