LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Lydia Owallah was nominated by her friend and fellow LifeChanger nominee, Joann Johnson-LeBlanc.

Johnson-LeBlanc considers Mrs. Owallah to be her friend, mentor, and the most compassionate person she knows. When Johnson-LeBlanc was a Special Education Teacher Assistant under Mrs. Owallah's tutelage, Mrs. Owallah helped  her earn her teaching certificate  and paid for her to take the State Exam.

By choice, Mrs. Owallah has served special needs students in the Dallas Independent School District for several years, while being certified to teach in many different areas. She has served under at least two principals, both of whom loved her work ethic, as well as her concern and care for the students. Her teacher evaluations are always near perfection.

Mrs. Owallah has a profound generosity, and genuineness for the disabled and underprivileged of society. So much so, she founded a school (AGENO COMMUNITY- www.ageno.org) for the disabled in her native homeland of Kenya. A place, for the most part, where people with disabilities are left to look after themselves. Mrs. Owallah had a dream, and a desire, to educate and provide services to this population. She sought grant money, put together many fundraisers, and received donations toward the purchase of land, a building, hiring of staff, finding the students who needed the services the most, training of parents, and getting students enrolled.

Today, Ageno Community is a thriving educational and training community providing life skills, which provides participants with opportunities to engage in various activities while in a safe environment. The school encourages them to expand their abilities – reaching their full potential. The school is known as a "brain building center," which focuses on improving concentration, coordination and organization skills through a variety of activities, exercises and movements. Ageno uses a community approach model, focusing on equipping trainers to work with participants and their caregivers and also equipping the trainers to train other members within the community.

Yearly, Mrs. Owallah makes a personal month long visit to the school to provide hands-on service, and to make certain that the community is running well, and is prosperous in all the services provided.

"Mrs. Lydia Owallah is a champion for the disabled, said Johnson-LeBlanc.

Her motto is a quote from George Washington Carver: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.”