Entertainment of Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Source: News One

Don’t give up because you are an orphan – Yvonne Okoro

Celebrated Ghanaian actress, Yvonne Okoro, has encouraged underprivileged persons to be focused in life and the career choices they make.

She said underprivileged persons should not give up on their dreams of becoming successful persons in life just because of what people think or say about them.

The popular actress, who is also an entrepreneur, said this when she visited OrphanAid Africa’s young adults at the Young Adults Support Services Ghana (YASS Ghana) premises at Medina in Accra on Friday August 22 afternoon.

OrphanAid Africa is a non-profit organisation developing programmes and projects to help vulnerable children and their families in Ghana.

The organisation was originally founded as a local NGO in Ghana in 2002 and progressively grew internationally with registered branches in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

The common goal of these branches is to rescue vulnerable children in need of care and to trace and reunite children with their families.

It also strengthens families and communities so they can care for their children.

The YASS programme provides services and support to young adults transitioning from care into adulthood through life skills education and career development services to create better opportunities for success.

The award winning actress was at the outfit to inspire persons there with her personal life experiences and career experiences as part of her social responsibility tasks.

She touched on a lot of issues but emphasised on the positive choices they make in life as individuals.

“I decided a very long time ago not to allow any obstacle to stop my dreams, so over the years, I armed myself to face anything squarely. I have done this so hard that I have often forgotten to celebrate my victories, no matter how small they may be.”

“There’s something I learnt- which is, letting your imperfections shape you into being almost perfect or perfect in human eyes. No matter what career path you choose, people would come at you with full force.

People would pull you down because it is in our nature as human beings to criticise and to remember the bad that others do, but there is the point where you need to keep your focus and work harder.

You can choose to let people get at you, or you could make your mind up to succeed regardless. The truth is some of the things people say would be correct and helpful, but develop an ear with filter.

Filter out those that do not seek to grow you and take on constructive feedback. I challenge you to do this,” Yvonne Okoro advised.