The Member-Meneh Scholarship

• The Member-Meneh Foundation
  
• A Scholarship Blessing
• 2023 CFNA Funraising Dinner
• CFNA Website

Editor’s Note: Lezoghia (popularly known as Zo) Member-Meneh was born to the family of Bishop Tsaro and Flora L. Member-Meneh in Wiiyaakara-Bori town, Ogoni, Rivers State of Nigeria. At his birth, his father Tsaro Member-Meneh had already fled Nigeria to a refugee camp in the Federal Republic of Benin, escaping execution by Sani Abacha, the then-president of Nigeria who executed Ken Saro Wiwa in 1995 for demanding basic rights for the Ogoni people. At the age of six months, Lezoghia and his siblings, along with their mother, Flora L. Member-Meneh, joined their father at the refugee camp in Benin until they were selected for resettlement in the USA.

 They were unable to bring anything with them as they were running for their lives. Through the special grace of God, Pastor Reverend Jonathan Lang of Messiah Lutheran Church, St. Louis, met with his father, Tsaro, and discussed the need for attending the Lutheran Church. Being a Christian and a member of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star in Nigeria, his father decided to follow Pastor Reverend Jonathan to the Lutheran Church after discussing it with his wife, Flora Member-Meneh. The Lutheran Church not only served their spiritual needs but also helped with their physical needs, including admitting Nadum, Goka, Lezoghia, and Leketor Member-Meneh to Lutheran grade school. Messiah Lutheran provided them with accommodation and introduced them to Christian Friends of New America (CFNA), where Zo shares his story.

With God’s love, mercy, and favor, all things are possible, and when God speaks, all surrender. Thanks be to God Almighty for using Messiah Lutheran Church, Saint Louis, and CFNA as pillars for me and my family’s one of a kind journey. We were refugees from Nigeria, running from the reach of President Sani Abacha because my father fought for the rights of the Ogoni people. That fight led us to the United States of America, where we landed with nothing.

Messiah Lutheran Church provided us with accommodation, clothing, a church home, and an introduction to CFNA. CFNA provided us with emotional support through after school activities that connected us with other students just like us, a sense of community in a new space, and financial support so cost wouldn’t deter us from having some of the best education in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Thanks to God’s work through CFNA, me, a Nigerian born, South City Saint Louis raised kid was able to attend and graduate from a division 1 school, The University of Alabama State, debt-free. I then landed my dream job at Google. Now I can showcase the importance of representation and how much of a difference an opportunity makes in children’s lives. CFNA has been a foundational pillar in my family’s lives through the opportunities they’ve provided us when we were children. Nadum is now a Clinical Research Associate for a biopharmaceutical company, Goka is a Commercial Property and Casualty Underwriter for an insurance company, and Leketor is a Professional Volleyball Player for the Atlanta Vibe in the league’s very first Inaugural Season right here in the United States. CFNA has helped me recover from the trauma of my refugee experience. They helped me find hope and, more importantly, believe in myself, enabling me to build a new life in the United States.

In honor of our birthdays, my brother Nadum and I set a goal of raising $6,000 by August 29, 2023, for CFNA’s scholarship assistance program to help other refugees jumpstart their lives and achieve their dreams. We raised a little more and A few weeks later, CFNA received a check for $13,195.44.

For me and my brother and sisters, who were all former CFNA scholarship students, it has been a "Goal achieved." From the bottom of our hearts, we give thanks to God and to all of you who have provided hope and encouragement during our journey.

 To extend this blessing to other refugees, we have established in partnership with CFNA the Member-Meneh Scholarship Fund with the goal of raising $20,000 for the coming academic year, where a percentage of every donation will be matched by Google. With the Member-Meneh Scholarship FundThe Member-Meneh Foundation is committed to helping 1 Million Refugees in our lifetime! Should you feel inclined to join us, you may do so by contributing to our GoFundMe effort.

For more information, you may reach me here: The Member-Meneh Foundation

Thank you all.
The Member-Meneh Foundation