Paddy Kirwan
2 Jun 2023
Moving 3 hours away from his home village of Egbema in Nigeria is what has brought Jeffter Chigozie to using a mobile recharge service like Ding. Like all members of the Ding community, Jeffter uses the Ding mobile app to keep in touch with his mom back home. We caught up with Jeffter to learn more about his life, as a student at Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
“I’m Jeffter, a 19-year-old Agricultural and Environmental Engineering student here in Rivers State, Nigeria. I live here in Port Harcourt City with my auntie.”
“I grew up in a family of six children. I’m the third child, but first son. When I was growing up, mobile phones weren’t very popular in my village. My dad was working far from home, and needed to communicate with us. He’d want to know how we’re doing, and we loved hearing from him.
So, my mother took myself and my two older sisters to a call centre nearby, so we could speak to our dad. This all happened when I was in primary school.”
“Well, after primary school, I left my family to go to a boarding school about 100km from my town. When I was in grade 9, I got a small mobile phone, to stay in touch with people at home."
“I was scrolling on social media and came across an ad for Ding. I clicked the name above the ad. When I understood what the service was for, it clicked with me that I could help my family with this. To stay in touch with my Mom back home, Ding could help us. I first sent a top-up on the website, then I downloaded the Ding app. I’ve been using Ding for 2 years now.“
“Well, I plan to finish my studies here and go on to do a masters degree. I hope to study a masters outside of Nigeria, maybe in America or somewhere in Europe. Better still, I’d love to join the military here in my country. That’s been a dream of mine since I was little.”
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