-Credits Sponsor for ‘Breaking Generational Rope’
CHANDIGARH, INDIA — For Nuwo Favour David, the applause that followed her graduation from Chandigarh University on July 30, 2026, was more than a celebration of academic achievement.
It was a celebration of perseverance, sacrifice and a promise kept.
The former Liberian journalist, who once worked with Super Bongese Radio and later served as a correspondent for OK FM before leaving Liberia to pursue higher education, has earned a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry, graduating with First Class Distinction.
For David, the degree represents a remarkable transformation, from a young woman with a high school diploma and an uncertain university future to a master’s graduate on an international stage.
But standing behind the achievement, she says, is a man she describes not simply as a sponsor, but as an angel, father figure and “unbreakable faith.”
That man is Nathan Charles, a Liberian professional who began supporting David’s educational journey after meeting her in 2020.
In a deeply emotional graduation message, David described Charles as a man who “denies self-worth to elevate others” and who believes in lifting people, even when they are not family members.
“Thank you for taking me from just a girl with a high school diploma to a recognized university graduate earning a Master of Science with First Class Distinction,” she wrote.
A journey that began with uncertainty
David’s journey to the graduation stage was far from straightforward.
After completing secondary school in 2019, she had hoped to enter university that same year. But according to her account, promises of educational assistance did not materialize, leaving her plans uncertain.
Her circumstances began to change in June 2020 when she met Charles while working as a correspondent.
She says the relationship lasted only two months in the workplace, but those two months proved decisive.
Charles asked about her plans for the future.
That conversation, David recalls, became the beginning of a journey that would take her from Liberia to Ghana and eventually to India.
In August 2020, she moved to Monrovia. By October of that year, she was in Ghana. In September 2021, another major chapter began when she traveled to India to pursue higher education.
For nearly five years, the journey demanded adaptation, discipline and sacrifice. David says Charles remained committed throughout.
“From transferring me to Monrovia in August 2020, to Ghana in October 2020, then India in September 2021 until today, you stood by your promise,” she said.
More than tuition
For an international student living far from home, completing a graduate degree can involve challenges that extend well beyond the classroom.
David says Charles supported virtually every aspect of her life as a student, from tuition and accommodation to transportation, food and other basic needs.
“There was not a single day I was thrown out of my apartment for rent or other bills,” she recalled.
The support, she said, became particularly meaningful because it continued even when Charles himself was facing difficult circumstances.
David recalled that in 2021, while Charles was battling COVID-19, he continued to provide support and reaffirm his commitment to helping her pursue her studies in India.
For David, that sacrifice became evidence that the commitment was not simply financial but personal.
A sponsor inspired by his mother
Charles’ decision to support David’s education, however, was rooted in a lesson he says he received from his late mother, Gladys Cecelia Badio.
In a message shared with David two years ago, Charles recalled that when he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Liberia in 2012, his mother had one major wish for him: that he would use whatever resources he had to help others pursue education.
“Even if I’m not around, please share the little resources you have with others to support them,” Charles recalled his mother telling him.
Her instruction went further.
She encouraged him not to limit his assistance to members of the family, but to look beyond his immediate circle for people who needed help and deserved an opportunity.
That philosophy, Charles said, is what he has passed on to David.
“Ma Nuwo Favour David, this is the same message I’m passing out to you,” he wrote.
For David, that message has now come full circle.
‘You broke a generational rope’
The significance of the degree goes beyond the title attached to it.
David says she is the first person in her immediate family to obtain a bachelor’s degree and the first in her extended family to earn a master’s degree.
She described the achievement as the breaking of a “generational rope”, a milestone she attributes ultimately to God’s grace, but one made possible through opportunity and support.
“I’m not bragging, it’s by God’s grace that this history has been made”, she wrote.
Her achievement also represents the power of investing in a young person’s potential.
When Charles first asked about her plans, David says she could not have imagined that the conversation would eventually lead to a master’s degree in Biochemistry in India.
A new responsibility
With the graduation ceremony now behind her, David is looking ahead.
She has promised to make her sponsor proud and to extend the value of the opportunity she received.
“You are truly heaven sent,” she told Charles, while praying for his continued health, wisdom, peace and prosperity.
She also acknowledged Charles’ wife, whom she affectionately referred to as “Mommy,” for supporting the difficult decisions involved in financing her education, as well as his siblings and family for embracing her.
David’s story is, in many ways, a story about education as an investment, not merely in an individual, but in generations.
Her master’s degree is a personal victory, but it also carries the hopes of a family and the expectations of a sponsor who believed that education should be shared beyond the boundaries of blood relations.
A promise fulfilled
As David stood among graduates at Chandigarh University on July 30, 2026, the moment marked the fulfillment of a promise that began years earlier.
A young Liberian journalist left the newsroom, crossed borders and entered a demanding field of science.
She returned from that journey not simply with another academic credential, but with a story of resilience, and a reminder of what can happen when someone chooses to invest in another person’s potential.
For Nathan Charles, the graduation is also the fulfillment of his mother’s instruction.
For Nuwo David, it is the beginning of another chapter.
And for the people who watched her journey from Liberia, Ghana and eventually India, her master’s degree stands as a testament to the idea that sometimes, changing one life can become the beginning of changing an entire family.
The promise was made. The sacrifice was given. The degree has now been earned.
Promise fulfilled.
