Mom Shows Her Children The Power Of Perseverance & Passes Bar Exam After More Than 10 Attempts

Apr 13, 2022

Dreams come true when you work hard enough and with consistency. It's a tale as old as time, yet this story is game-changing. Evelyn Uba, a woman originally from Nigeria, has had a dream since she was 18 years old. As a young woman, she decided to pack her bags and leave Nigeria. Uba came to the United States in 1983 with hopes of achieving her dream of becoming a successful lawyer. 

After arriving in the United States, Uba ran into major hardship after her father passed away, which made her put her dreams on hold. She would spend the next twenty years getting married, having children, and tending to her family's needs. In 2005, the time had finally come for Uba to resume her dream. 

She attended the California Southern Law School, where she would go on to graduate in 2011. The mom of four worked very hard, seeing she had a full-time job and a full family, all while continuing to pursue the last steps to becoming a lawyer. All she needed to do was pass the California State bar exam. Uba took the bar and then took it again. She would go on to take the bar exam over ten times over the course of almost ten years. 

Eventually, Uba stopped counting her exam attempts. In January of 2021, all of the blood, sweat and many tears would pay off. Uba would finally be able to fulfill the promise she made to her father all those years ago. Uba would finally become the lawyer she set out to be. 

In 2021 Uba told GMA, "I never stopped wanting to go to law school," she said. "After my last child turned 2, I went to a school that I could afford that was conducive to being a mom, going to work and making payments."

"I took the exam more than ten times," she said. "I stopped counting after a while but giving up certainly wasn't in my dictionary."

It would be easy to give up on a goal after not achieving it for over a decade. However, the life-long learner didn't give up. She said at times that she would have to miss out on several family events. 

"My daughter, Naeche, once said to me, 'Mom, if you give up now, you can't get your time back. Then what would you have gained out of all the missed time you could've spent with us?' So that always stuck in my head and I knew the only time I'd give up is when I'm dead," said Uba.

Upon receiving the positive news in the mail, Uba said all of her hard work was worth it. "I started jumping up and down," she said. "I had so many reasons to give up, but I knew I just had to keep pushing. I felt so relieved."

Uba wasn't the only one who was relieved after the journey to that moment. The lawyer's daughter said, "I felt a huge weight lifted off all of our shoulders," said her daughter. "It was so surreal and I finally feel like my mom can live out her dream and do whatever she wants with this license."

Uba said she hopes her story can show others not to give up on their dreams. 

"Eventually it's going to happen when God says it'll happen," she said. "It might not be easy but you just have to keep going and never feel sorry for yourself," said Uba.

How long would you work to achieve your life dreams? If you found Evelyn's story inspiring— pass it on to someone who will think so too!