PASADENA, Calif. — A Pasadena nurse who moved to the United States for a better life is ensuring girls in her home county of Togo have a better life, too. 

Tina Kampor has been paying tuition for hundreds of girls in West Africa to go to school for nearly 20 years.

“Education is basic and I think everybody should have it,” Kampor said.

Kampor is a nurse at Aurora Las Encinas Mental Health Hospital. She works at least 12 hours a day, usually seven days a week and sends more than half of what she earns to students.

“I don’t have anything,” Kampor said. “As soon as I can pay my rent and then a little food and my car insurance that’s it.”

The girls study at the school in an underprivileged neighborhood where she used to teach home economics. It is a co-ed school but Kampor noticed the girls were dropping out because they could not afford tuition. She eventually moved to the U.S. and became a nurse, but she could not leave the girls behind.

Since then, she has been paying $40 dollar tuition fees. She started with one girl, then three, then five and eventually she paid for 120 girls to go to school. 

“Women take care of family. When you help one she usually can help others,” Kampor said.

She has now started a non-profit called Peace Sisters and raises around $15,000 dollars annually to keep 450 girls in school. The organization also raises money for lamps so the girls can study at night and sanitary napkins so they do not miss class while menstruating.

Kampor usually visits the girls once a year but has only been able to connect with them via phone during the pandemic.

She hopes to visit again in December. She said it feels good each time she sees a girl in a classroom.