INSPIRING STORIES

volume Issue 3 // 3rd Quarter 2016

... Promoting Personal Social Responsibility

1

“We cannot hold a touch

to light other's path without

brightening our own”

– Ben Sweetland

Like a gust of wind, she swept into the school and it was immediately obvious that a visionary, pioneer and great influence had arrived. She was dressed quite simply in a lovely gown and flat shoes with a black scarf tied securely around her head. Her face bore no trace of make-up.

Yet, beneath that plain and calm exterior lay a bubbling volcano of love, care and tenderness. Within seconds of her arrival, the volcano erupted and liquid fire oozed out of every pore of her body as she began to speak about the children of Helpers Academy. A hug here, a kind word there and a sharp rebuke to another punctuated our conversation at regular intervals.

Within the small school compound, pupils from the ages of three to fourteen bustled about happily in earnest expectation of their Career Day activities. Children whose parents could not afford to send them to private schools or the far-away government schools now had a chance to dream and dress up in the work-gear of their dream jobs. I was fascinated at the array of young minds and talents whom she had literally pulled out of their homes and given a new lease of life.

Some of the pupils are refugees - victims of the Boko Haram rampage in Northern Nigeria, others are simply children of parents who could not afford the fees of the private schools within their community and could not risk sending their children miles away to attend the public schools in neighbouring communities. Tosin built Helpers Academy in 2015 to ensure that each of these children would taste and experience the wonders of a basic formal education despite their backgrounds and stations in life.

“No child should be left behind in attaining quality education in the 21st century, no child.”-Tosin Taiwo

Tosin Taiwo is a graduate of Computer Science from University of Lagos, Nigeria who finds fulfillment, not in writing programme codes but in taking children off the streets and providing them with basic education and in some cases, food and clothing. A mother of three young children, she has spent the past seven years promoting education for all, especially for the undeserved children in rural communities, seeking out-of-school children and raising funds to enrol them in school.

Through her works, she firmly upholds that “No child should be left behind in attaining quality education in the 21st century. No child”.

Would you like to make a difference in your own little way? You may consider any of the following:

³Volunteer to teach or mentor students at Helpers Academy.

³Donate new or mildly used books/educational materials to Helpers Academy.

³Support- a-Teacher by paying a teacher's salary monthly or giving a one-off donation.

³Call Tosin on +234 803 409 3287 and find out other ways in which you can support the school.

Helpers Academy:

2, Surulere – Powerline Street, Opposite Ikola Football Field,

Ikola Odunsi, Ipaja, Alimosho LGA, Lagos.

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