It was 25 years ago…

Celebrating 25 years of ACT

As the saying goes, ‘Time passes by so quickly’.

It was 25 years ago that the idea was formed to set up a charity to give poor children in Africa the opportunity of an education and enable them to reach their potential in life. The full story of what led to the decision will require much more space than is possible in this blog.

Over time, I have come to understand that people receive ideas in different ways and in different forms. What is important here is to point out that the idea for ACT was not the stuff of a ‘Eureka’ moment. In fact, perhaps and to some extent, rather the opposite.

The story goes back four years earlier to a Saturday in May 1994. I wonder if it was the effect of a heavy sumptuous lunch, but I was slumped on our sofa at home as this scene played out so clearly in my mind like a moving picture. Was it a vision, was I in a trance or was I merely day-dreaming? Call it whatever you will.

What I saw play out, as if watching the TV, was a woman street-seller with a baby child wrapped on her back. She was holding a female child with her right-hand and using her left-hand to support a big basket, balanced on a head scarf rolled into a pouch on her head. Having grown up in Nigeria, and visited many African countries over the years, it was not an unfamiliar scene.

This woman was trying to cross to the other side of the road where a bus had stopped to off-load some of its passenger. She saw an opportunity to make some sales to disembarking passengers. But as she tried to cross, a car coming from her left hooted frantically at her, seeking to attract her attention to the danger on the road. In the car was a driver, and sitting comfortably at the back was a well-attired woman. I recall thinking to myself as the picture unfolded that she must be a rich woman. Never mind the car, or the cost of having a chauffeur, her clothing was worth far, far more than the entire contents of the basket the poor woman street-seller was carrying on her head.

In the unfolding story, something said to my mind: “Do you know that there is a link between these two women? The poor woman has two older children at home. She is a widow, working hard to feed her children and pay rent for the small room in the house where she and her four children live. Since her husband died, she has struggled to keep the two older children in school as she could not pay the school fees or buy them school uniforms. She was anxious that she may have to cut short their education. The other woman, well off and very grateful for God’s gracious blessings on her life, often prays that she may be able to help poor people in need but does not know how. How was she to know that the street-seller she was looking at from the comfort of her car was one such woman that could benefit from her generous heart. Then came the crux.

A question was raised in my mind: “Can you use the skills you have received to help this struggling woman in-need to support and educate her children? Can you also facilitate the rich woman who wants to help, but just does not know how to identify the people truly in most need?

Suddenly I “woke up”. Was I asleep or was I day-dreaming?

At the time I had no idea what to do or what to make of this. One good thing I did at the time was to write it down on paper and keep it. I treasured it in my heart. A good thing I did, because as is often the case, time passed by, and I soon forgot all about it.

Four years later, unexpectedly and in very different circumstances, my mind was forced to the issue of widows and deprived children and orphans, and I stumbled on the paper on which I wrote the vision for ACT. At that point in time, I was ready to ACT!

Our 25th Anniversary Appeal

To mark 25 years of ACT we want to support 250 new children and orphans in-need this year across the countries where we work in Africa. Can you please help us?

With £15 a month (£180 a year) you can educate a child and support their family. In one year, your gift will buy school uniforms, feed a child and pay school fees. Click here to transform a life for the better today.