“Thanks to education, I can earn my living today”
Wilfred Mangom

Wilfred is a 22-year-old refrigeration technician from Cameroon, who graduated high school with a technical diploma in air conditioning. Finishing high school was no easy task for him. From a young age, Wilfred had to struggle in a broken home, as his father left the family.

Not too long after, Wilfred showed maturity and tenacity when his mother, grandmother and great grandmother all passed away throughout his school years. Wilfred needed to grow up quickly.

Despite these tragedies and the difficulty to get an education, Wilfred is convinced that the alternative would have been much worse. According to him it would have been a "disaster" if he hadn't received an education. "The sky would have fallen on my head. I would have been wasting away in a village somewhere, or I would have been a drug addict living on the streets."

Today, Wilfred works in an air conditioning company where he installs air conditioning in offices, homes, and cars. Wilfred is grateful for the education that he received, saying that it has allowed him to make a living and be a productive member of the community. "Education has been everything for me" he says.

This story is part of education shapes futures, a compilation of powerful stories of young people living in GPE partner developing countries on how education had a positive impact on their lives.