Michaela DePrince’s life story is incredibly motivating.
She not only beat all the obstacles put against her, but she also demonstrated the validity of the proverb “don’t judge a book by its cover”!
Michaela DePrince was born in Sierra Leone in 1995 and was known at the time as “Mabinty Bangurawas.” She was raised in an orphanage after losing both of her parents to the country’s civil war shortly after birth. DePrince’s nightmare started at the orphanage.
DePrince had vitiligo, a disorder in which the skin loses its color as a result of the loss of pigment-producing cells. DePrince’s neck began to acquire white patches as a result of the disease, and her neighborhood teased and called her names frequently. The other girl with the same name as her, “Mabinty,” was the only person she knew.
She was referred to as the “Devil’s Child” because of her condition, and nobody wanted to adopt her. They graded us, DePrince recalled her horrible orphanage experience. The child ranked one was the favorite, and youngster ranked 27 was the least favorite. 27 was my number.
She told Today that they frequently asked, “Why would anyone want to adopt the devil’s child?”
DePrince suffered from neglect for a lot of her days, which caused her to go without food and starve. Until she haphazardly came across a photo of a dancer in a magazine, her life appeared dismal.
In interviews, she admitted, “It wasn’t only that she’s a dancer. It’s that she seems content. And if what she was doing made her happy, I wanted to make her happy too, she said.
Again tragedy occurred when she was three. Rebels stabbed 3-year-old Michaela in the stomach.
But she was going to get some bad luck. In order to adopt Michaela’s buddy Mabinty, an American woman was traveling to Africa. The orphanage called Elaine to explain which “Mabinty” she intended to adopt because there was uncertainty on their end.
Elaine DePrince chose to adopt both the children and gave them the names “Michaela” and “Mia” after learning that Michaela was an orphan who had already been rejected 12 times. After signing the paperwork, she notified her husband that she was adopting two girls.
The DePrince family had experience adopting. Three youngsters from abroad had previously been adopted by the couple. Their three adopted sons had hemophilia in common.
Elaine was constantly aware of the extra attention her sons needed from her. But disaster occurred when HIV was found in their blood product. The family lost all three of their sons at the time because there was no treatment for the illness.
This encouraged them to adopt once more. In 1999, the couple adopted Michaela DePrince, then 4 years old. She told her adoptive parents about her desire to dance as soon as she was adopted.
DePrince’s adoptive parents enthusiastically supported her desire to dance. Her hobbies were fostered by Elaine DePrince and her husband, who also drove her to dance lessons. Michaela took some time to come to terms with their unwavering support and devotion.
Michaela remembers being terrified that her new life would be lost. She admitted in an interview that she once had to keep the light on while she slept. Simply put, I was afraid that if I switched it off when I woke up, I would be back in the orphanage.
DePrince was motivated by her desire to disprove all doubters. But even in America, she ran into some problems.
She discovered that her skin condition was problematic for her dance profession. Michaela was advised to persevere by Elaine DePrince, who explained that her white patches were actually pixie dust.
Michaela, who lost her adopted father in June 2020, vowed to dedicate all of her performances to him. Her future husband would have high expectations to live up to because of the example her father had set for her, she wrote in a moving homage to him.
She was able to get over her fears thanks to the love and acceptance she received from her adoptive parents, and she is now a well-known artist known all over the world for her dancing skills!
The teacher told me, “You know, we don’t put a lot of effort into the black ballerinas because they all end up getting overweight and having large boobs,” when I was eight years old. told DePrince.
Michaela, however, wasn’t about to allow an uninformed teacher determine her fate. She persisted, and the results of her many years of sacrifice were her successful career.
She began her career with the Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York City at the age of 17.
Watch her amazing performance here:
