How hawking in Gombe inspired my STEAM empowerment, says Harvard professor

“I never forgot I was a hawker. I never forgot that I never had electricity or drinking water,’’ she said.

News Agency of Nigeria • February 12, 2026

Girls learning STEAM(Credit: Getting Smart)

A Harvard University scholar, Hauwa Ibrahim, has narrated how her humble beginnings as a hawker influenced the establishment of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics camps to empower vulnerable children.

Ms Ibrahim, a senior international scholar-in-residence at Wellesley College and Harvard University, gave the account in an interview at the Abuja Children’s Home, Karu, Abuja.

Ms Ibrahim said her passion for grassroots development is rooted in her humble beginnings in Hinna, a village in Yamaltu-Deba LGA of Gombe, where she once hawked goods on the street at the age of five.

She noted that, despite her international accolades, she maintained a deep connection to her roots.

“I never forgot I was a hawker. I never forgot that I never had electricity or drinking water,’’ she said.

She recalled that her journey to global academic prominence was sparked by a chance encounter with Dr Hannatu Ibrahim, the first female commissioner in Bauchi State, whom she saw on a television screen in a house with electricity, a luxury her village lacked then.

She narrated how, as a young girl, she was chased out of the commissioner’s office 30 times before she was finally granted an audience. The meeting, according to her, eventually paved her way to the University of Jos to study Law.

Ms Ibrahim said she was the first female to open a legal chamber in Bauchi.

She said her chamber was then committed to defending women and children in high-profile Sharia cases in the late 1990s, before her foray into academia.

Speaking about the STEAM camps, Ms Ibrahim said 10,000 students in 2,000 schools across the country had benefited from the project. She said students were being taught to create robotic items, including cars, from recycled materials such as straws and plastic bottles.

Ms Ibrahim said the STEAM camps focused on developing skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics for children from diverse backgrounds, including those from orphanages and those with disabilities.

The camps, according to her, included hands-on training, practical exercises, and projects that encouraged creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking.

Ms Ibrahim emphasised that the project is funded through the goodwill of believers without government grants.

(NAN)

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