od growing up in a remote and poor Nigerian village. My mother died when I was only 13 months old, leaving me exposed to a life without her nurturing and protective care. Moved from one foster home to another, I found love in some, indifference in others. My journey to adolescence was marked by loneliness and hardship. I experienced anger, shame, loneliness, misery, rebellion, sorrow and grief. This anguish was undeniably connected to the absence of my mother. I hated school, avoided people, and suffered in silence. It nearly tore me apart. Ironically, the very adversity which had been cause for paralyzing emptiness, became motivation for my rebound. I imagined myself through my mother's eyes. What kind of son would she have loved for me to become? This introspective quest led to the person I am now. When I became a priest, I started a ministry to support women like her and orphans like me. Today, ten years after incorporation in the U.S. as a 501c3 non-profit, the Divine Mercy International Widows and Orphans Organization (DMIWOO) is opening a 150-bed capacity medical center in my remote village of Obike. Indeed, life is about the things that happen to us as much as it is about the use we make of them.