In 2010, Oluwabukola Pereira was a 15-year-old racing barefoot through the streets of Lagos, Nigeria.
At the time, James Michael Lafferty, then CEO for Coca-Cola in West Africa, had teamed up with the mayor of Lagos to organize foot races for neighborhood children. If the kids could outrun either the mayor or Lafferty, known locally as the “big White guy,” they’d win a prize.
Pereira, who was known as Bukola or Bukky, bested them, speeding through some of the roughest neighborhoods in Lagos.
Lafferty took notice and got to know Pereira’s family. He told them that her athletic skills could get her a scholarship and a life in America. After getting to know her, Lafferty believed in her so much he sponsored her immigration to the U.S.
On May 16, Pereira was scheduled to receive her second master’s degree from Xavier University. She will not walk across the stage.
Pereira, 30, was fatally shot near Wayne Street in Lockland on May 8. Lafferty said it appeared she may have tried to stop a theft of about $1,500 from a local auto business where she worked as a manager, a job he had helped her secure.
“This kid is the gem of humanity,” Lafferty said. “She didn’t have a bad bone in her body.”
Lafferty, who graduated from St. Xavier High School and the University of Cincinnati, helped Pereira prepare for the SAT. Though she had excelled in school in Lagos, standardized testing proved difficult. Her family also struggled to understand the American recruiting websites, puzzled as to why college coaches wouldn’t visit them in person.
“How do you explain the internet to someone,” Lafferty remembered telling his wife.
When Pereira landed in the U.S., Lafferty said she had $10 and a scholarship. Lafferty helped with books and other incidentals. He said she went to several undergraduate schools.
Lafferty has coached several Olympic athletes. He started at Procter & Gamble as a fitness coach before moving up the ladder to become an executive.
He said he tempered Pereira’s desire to compete in the Olympics. He told her the Olympics might happen, but said if she kept her focus on academics, he would help her as much as he could.
She held up her end of the bargain. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Southwest Baptist University, then a master’s in communication from the University of Texas El Paso. She was earning a master’s of business administration at Xavier, where officials said she was planning to continue her education this fall pursuing another master’s in business analytics.
“For me, she was the picture of the American dream. She went to school, built a life,” Lafferty said. “She never failed. It was not an option for her.”
She intended to pull her parents and siblings out of poverty, he said. She was already in the process of getting her green card.
While going to school and holding down a job, she also kept running. She finished first in the Flying Pig 5K in 2024 and fourth this year.
“She’s a damn good runner,” Lafferty said.
Through it all, Pereira kept her faith central to her life. Her Facebook account is filled with posts of her singing gospel music and during the pandemic she launched a Christian podcast.
Lafferty remembered receiving a letter from Pereira when he was due to have knee surgery. She wrote that she would pray for him and that God was looking out for him.
“It was just a knee surgery,” he said. “She just always cared about you.”
Lafferty, who now lives in Dubai, last saw Pereira about six months ago when he returned to Cincinnati. He got dinner with her and her fiancée. They smiled together for pictures at a Kenwood restaurant.
Last week, he was faced with helping contact her parents to tell them she had been killed. He organized a team of runners to go tell them in person.
“We all cried together on the phone,” Lafferty said. He said her parents won’t be able to come the U.S. because their visas would likely be denied.
“This is a tragedy of epic proportions. She was living the American dream and keeping it alive,” he said. “This is a kid that died that never did anything wrong. I don’t want her ever forgotten.”
Xavier University plans to honor Pereira during the graduation ceremony on May 16.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: She ran barefoot in Nigeria, won Flying Pig races – then a gunman took her life
Reporting by Cameron Knight, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
