She said: “As young girls pursuing your lives it is important to have a focus and work towards it. You need to identify the qualities you need to become better people in the near future.” Mrs Bawumia was speaking at the 2017 edition of ‘The Story of Our Lives Conference’, organised by the Mentoring For Youth Development, MENFYD Foundation, on Wednesday, in Accra.

Under the theme: “Same story, different era”; the conference is a mentorship project aimed at encouraging female students to focus and strive to achieve their vision to buttress the fact that hard work, determination and dedication yield positive results.Mrs Bawumia said if society was to be great it would all depend on the people who made up that society, and as young girls it was important for them to make an impact in every society they found themselves.

She noted that success did not come on a silver platter but there were hurdles one would have to overcome in order to achieve the best in life. “The world itself has become competitive and individuals must endeavour to go the extra mile to become successful,” she advised. The Second Lady said life was a two-way journey of teaching and learning from one another and at a section in life everyone needed someone to inspire them to do better than they were doing.

"Learn to overcome life’s challenges by making good use of your learning and experiences of those who have come ahead of you in that same path,” she advised. “The path you choose is a matter of choice, which must emulate the fore-bearers who have successfully defined their roles in society”.  Mrs Bawumia urged the girls to take active lessons from what they were seeing happening around them, and strive to adhere to them, adding that, they must strive to be diligent and thorough in every aspect of their lives.

“Learn to identify the qualities that you need to be better people, work at these qualities and attain them, and go the extra mile in sharing the lessons you have learnt from others.” Mrs Rosa Whitaker Duncan-Williams, the President and CEO of the Whitaker Group, said the youth, especially girls, were the future leaders of the country and they must never underestimate their value or expect less from themselves no matter where they found themselves.

She said they must always perceive themselves as leaders. “In whatever you do; be competent, have the capacity, the commitment, the courage, and above all have good characters”. She said for any girl to successfully transform into a woman, she must trust God, love and forgive herself, forgive others and love her parents and extremely find time to pursue God’s purpose.

“You cannot pursue God’s purpose in your life without knowing His voice,” she stated. “And to know His voice is when you find time to communicate with Him, and do things that please Him.” Dr Bettina Ama Boohene-Andah, the  Founder of MENFYD Foundation, said the project was targeted at 200 girls from some tertiary institutions,  who would in turn propagate the information to their peers.

She said her inspiring and captivating life story and experience had given her the desire to positively impact the lives of the youth, with emphasis on the girl-child. Dr Boohene-Andah said every woman must try to be a mentor to some girl somewhere in order to impact the positive knowledge they had acquired throughout their lives to them. “We are telling our stories directly to these young girls through direct interactions with them, so that they have a feel of what it takes to be successful in life. It is not a smooth journey, but someone has to tell the story”.She expressed the hope that the project would help find answers to the problems of the youth and inspire them to aspire for higher positions.

Dr Boohene-Andah challenged the beneficiaries of the project to take advantage of the team of mentors, be positively touched by the stories and try to make an impact in the lives of others.  The MENFYD Foundation was established in 2015 and funded by  philanthropic organisations in countries across the globe.