From a young age, Khuraira Musa has highly valued the importance of education. She lost her mother at birth and was raised by her mother’s sister, Aunt Zainab, who instilled this value in her. When Musa was growing up, girls in Nigeria, especially those of Muslim descent, were not always allowed to go to school. At nine years old, Musa decided that she wanted to go to school and begged her aunt to enroll her. “School, to my aunt, was very very important,” Musa said. “She really believed in education and because of her belief in education, I got the opportunity to go to school.”

In 2009, Musa made a trip to her homeland of Nigeria to visit her Aunt Zainab. While on her trip, she noticed a bunch of little kids running around in the middle of the day and the first thought that occurred to her when she saw this was, “Why aren’t these kids in school?” Musa did some research and found out that a majority of these kids were not enrolled in school and the ones that were enrolled only went to school for six months of the year, due to strikes and other setbacks. From that day on, Musa made a promise to herself that, even if it was something small, she was going to do something to help the kids from her homeland gain an education.

But it wasn’t until 2012, when Musa lost her Aunt Zainab, that she took action. “In my religion, when someone passes [away], you either plant a tree for them, dig a well, or do something to honor their spirit when they are gone,” she said. “I knew that education was something that she was always so passionate about.” In 2013, Musa created and funded her own school in her aunt’s memory: Zainab Memorial School.

Zainab Memorial School is located in Jebbu-Bassa in the northern part of Nigeria. It is a co-ed school, girls ironically being a majority of the students. When the school first started in 2013, there were 22 students enrolled. Now, in 2017, there are over 100 kids attending Zainab Memorial. The school is open five days a week and has two classrooms. A fundraiser is currently in process with the hopes of raising money to complete the third classroom. There are five teachers teaching at the school, each on rotating schedules between the morning and afternoon sessions. In addition to being secular, the school is also nondenominational, meaning it does not discriminate against students on the basis of their religion. 

Musa’s dream in creating this school is to have the kids of her homeland growing up together in an environment where they can be educated regardless of their tribe or their religious beliefs. “I just want kids to be kids, learning together and playing together,” she said. Musa is confident that “one day, we are going to produce leaders from this.” Ally Waldman (’19) partnered with Musa in her vision of having our school’s students communicating with the kids that attend Zainab Memorial School in Nigeria, through Skype or writing letters. “Khuraira is a true inspiration and has taught me a lot about being open minded about life,” Waldman said. She started the THS Pen Pals club because she wanted THS students to see what it’s like to disconnect from their normal lives and take a look into Nigerian student’s lives. “The club has shown me the type of connection people can have with kids around the world, and the type of bonds you can make with others,” Waldman said.

In addition to creating her school in Nigeria and helping to implement the THS Pen Pals club, Musa is a self-employed, professional makeup artist with work experience from A-list makeup companies such as Lancome, Laura Mercier, and Trish McEvoy. She has her own cosmetics store called Khuraira, located on 29 Washington Street, Tenafly, where she does makeup for special events and sells her very own line of makeup and cosmetic products. The money she receives for her products and services directly helps the kids back in Nigeria. Musa believes “whatever you dream of, and you work hard at, can happen.”