As one of 18 children in his family, John’s childhood was spent trying to convince his father to pay for his school fees, a request that was consistently refused.

Determined to get to school, John began working hard from dusk until dawn in an attempt to raise funds for his own school fees. At a young age, John’s days consisted of early mornings, planting and hacking down sugar cane, to then wheel it into the nearby trading centre in the hope that he would earn a small
income.

The Edukid team heard about John’s situation and began to support his education. This meant, for the first time, John could solely focus on his studies, no longer needing to spend all of his time on the streets of his rural village selling sugar cane. By the time John had reached secondary school, he
had been offered a scholarship by Edukid, and had decided to specialise in sustainable agriculture. John explains “I learnt from Edukid, that, the hand that gives, has blessings. That same spirit is always in me, I need to support others”.

Now 26, John has started his own charity called Tic Ber (meaning ‘Good Works’). His focus is on food security, farming and improving access to basic needs in his local community, through training 150 households about sustainable agriculture.

John is an incredibly inspiring and humble individual, and his story serves as a reminder to us, that education can cause not only ripples, but tsunamis of transformation. John said himself “I am very grateful to Edukid for supporting me, and I encourage them to continue their work. There are other people coming. If you have changed a child, you have saved the world, because the 1 person you have changed, will go out there and change another.”