By Robert B. Stein
Twenty-year-old Ambima “Hammer” Buzhyason faced many obstacles to get from Nigeria to Columbia College, but his tenacity paid off. With a 4.0 GPA and the ambition to go into medicine, Ambima appreciates the school’s low student-teacher ratio and the chance to get individual attention.
“Everyone needs to be mentored to realize their potential,” Ambima says.
Although he won many awards in his village high school, difficult coursework resulted in a 2.6 GPA that didn’t bode well for scholarships. “But I was not demoralized,” he says. “If I start from a low place, I will go up.”
That optimism and confidence eventually landed him here where he studies 10 hours a day for his dual major in biology and chemistry. The college has helped him financially, but he says it is still a struggle to make ends meet.
“The greatest trauma was when I spent all my money on school and didn’t have anything left to live on,” he recalls. “But I had no worries, just faith that things would work out.” And they did: A host family from his church took him in, and the college provided more aid.
Ambima, which means “innocent” in his village’s dialect, inherited the name “Hammer” from his father, who inherited it from his father, a blacksmith. The name has caught on with his fellow students, who see him nailing down facts in the classroom and driving a ball into the soccer goal.
No matter what the future holds for Hammer, when he finishes college he will help address the problems that plague his native country.
“I have big dreams,” he says. “There is a lot to do in Nigeria.” He hopes to help eliminate corruption and discrimination, and bring about positive changes, all without violence. “The gap between the rich and poor is huge. We have many natural resources, but 70 percent of the masses are hungry and live on less than $1 a day.”
Hammer thinks his “big dreams” are realistic. He says, “Where you start doesn’t determine where you will end.”
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