As a child growing up in the West African nation of Togo, Hezouwe Walada watched three cousins and half his community die of malaria, a preventable disease. He vowed to find a way to become a doctor. Obstacle number one? His rural village offered no education.
Walada’s father agreed that his eight-year-old son could attend the nearest school in another village if he did his chores first and walked 15 miles there and 15 miles back. Walada did just that, waking at 2 AM, finishing three hours of farm tasks, and walking barefoot with bleeding feet but an eager spirit. “I had no shoes. Bikes were a luxury my family could not afford. I walked and walked and walked. Sometimes I ran. I was always late to class, but the teacher knew I was coming from a faraway village.”
Walada’s hard work paid off. He earned admission to a prestigious high school in Togo, then at age 17 gained a visa to go to the U.S.—alone, terrified, and knowing no English (although he knew six other languages!). In Madison, he struggled to find stable housing and food and to survive his studies at Madison College. By then he was married and a father, and he saw no way of ever becoming a doctor. “I lost hope and almost gave up.”
Then a friend told him about the UW Odyssey Project (odyssey.wisc.edu). He applied and was accepted into the Class of 2019, earning his first six UW humanities credits for free along with the chance to hone his skills in writing, reading, public speaking, and critical thinking.
“I was drowning, and Odyssey saved me. The Odyssey Program was a life-changer for me, saving my future when I almost gave up on my dream of becoming a physician. When I started Odyssey, I got my dream out of a hole, dusted it off, and started again. It has been quite a journey!”
Walada credits the Odyssey Project for giving him a sense of belonging and community. “Odyssey was my family, not just school. Everyone was so welcoming, and I felt that I wasn’t alone anymore. Odyssey really taught me about life, about ambition, and about how to gain confidence to be what I want to be. Odyssey showed me I can defy the odds and make my dream come true. I needed Odyssey to become the person that I am today.” Whether reading Shakespeare or Martin Luther King, Jr., writing his own poetry, essays, or editorials, Walada says he gained knowledge and power.
“Odyssey is for people like me who are forgotten, who are giving up. Odyssey was like the passage to a whole world. Getting into Odyssey was a golden opportunity, a golden ticket, a Willy Wonka ticket. I realized that I would become a doctor, no matter what.”
After Odyssey, Walada won scholarships and gained acceptance into UW’s Badger Ready program, easing his transition into full-time school. He majored in Biochemistry and was singled out for praise by UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin when he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry in 2023. She met Walada and five other Odyssey alumni right after taking her new position at UW.
“On my second day on the job,” Mnookin remembered, “I got to visit the UW South Madison Partnership and sit down with Hezouwe Walada and five other Odyssey graduates to hear about what they’d accomplished with the help of Odyssey. It was unforgettable. They told me stories about homelessness … about childhoods lived in poverty … about being told, ‘You’re not college material.’ All of the students I met with told me that Odyssey was the spark that ignited change in their lives. They’ve gone on to college and graduate school … to better jobs … and to become role models in their families and in the community.”
Mnookin remarked on Walada’s 30-mile daily trek to go to school in Togo and used the metaphor of walking to capture the arduous journeys so many nontraditional adult students face. “The Odyssey Project is a program that has always understood that before you ask a person to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, you better make sure they have a pair of boots. Every Odyssey graduate has their own ‘long walk’ — some seemingly insurmountable barrier. And what’s so tremendously important about Odyssey is that it doesn’t remove the barrier for each student. It helps them find what they need to go over it, or around it, or through it themselves. It teaches them, as the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison once wrote, that ‘YOU are your best thing.’”
Walada agrees and looks back at his journey with awe, pride, and gratitude. He now attends graduate school in public health and is studying for his MCATs so he can apply to medical school. “I’m so happy and proud. I say ‘wow, I’ve come so far!’ Odyssey can revive your dream, but 99% of the work has to come from you. You have to have the drive and determination.”
UW News featured Walada in several news stories. Most recently, On Wisconsin Magazine focused on Walada’s altruism in a piece called “A Heart for Africa.” While completing graduate school, working in home care, preparing for medical school, and raising a family, Walada made time to launch and direct Africa Forward Initiative (AFI). “Food insecurity, lack of access to clean water, educating the youth with proper schools—these are all issues we seek to address.” Walada’s non-profit organization provides microloans to entrepreneurs from Togo, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and other African countries. Projects range from building wells to developing start-up companies, all with a goal of breaking cycles of poverty.
What advice would Hezouwe Walada give others fighting for their dreams? “Everything is possible if you are willing to work hard and sacrifice. All you have to do is believe and keep asking questions.”
