72 Gesmay Paynter

new school and I flew home, taking with me warm memories of my time in Guatemala.

Fear of the unknown didn’t stop Jean-Paul from dreaming. Spiritual enlightenment and self-awareness last forever. We can all do a little to help others especially the young adults of tomorrow.

Affirmations

• I create the life I deserve.

• I always triumph over fear.

The Michael P story

Following my trip to Guatemala I returned to the hustle and bustle of London and my normal routine. There was a two-day event coming up: ‘Forum 3’ in Angel, North London, to which I had been invited. My alarm woke me at seven-thirty am and I set off. I browsed on my computer to get information and attended workshops. I was standing in the foyer waiting to attend the International Development Seminar when suddenly a man came marching along the corridor looking very powerful and there were some women pacing behind him. I decided to tag along and I introduced myself when I caught up with him. I was very bold and asked him, “What is your name and what do you do?” He replied, “I’m Michael Padmanathan, and I founded the True Volunteer Foundation.” Our meeting was very brief but we exchanged business cards and promised to stay in contact. Later when he gave his speech at the workshop I felt the passion and energy that was flowing from him. This is where my spiritual quest began.

I called Michael the next day and had a brief conversation. I didn’t hear from him for a while then out of the blue I got a call from him inviting me to join in a celebration for True Volunteer

73Sharing Bananas

Foundation (TVF) for winning an award. I was proud to be part of that and intrigued at how a relatively small charity had beaten much larger charities to win this prestigious award. I started volunteering for TVF which means I did not get paid or get any expenses reimbursed and I was reporting my findings to the International Development team.

I was subsequently invited to a microfinance meeting and after it I joined the International Development team. The subject of the discussion, between Michael and others was to find new locations to build schools in Central America: that was my cue to raise my hand and put Guatemala forward.

A few months later I somehow found myself on a flight to Guatemala and my assignment was to undertake research on educational programmes in the region. The trip was self-funded. I am now the Country Manager for the Guatemala project.

I have always felt that Michael has a helpful nature so I asked him for an interview to discuss including him in my book. To my surprise he accepted. I was subsequently invited to an art exhibition in Sloane Square and we met for an hour before it started. Michael arrived on his bike, wearing his helmet and carrying a black backpack; he’s a man of many strong mysteries! We sat in a French café and drank Chinese tea. I was intrigued. Michael has a passion for helping and educating tomorrow’s generation and people less fortunate than him.

Michael started building schools in his country of origin, Sri Lanka, one at a time. There are now fifteen schools. He focused on facilities for three to five year-olds because when he looked at the education system he found that Nursery Education was not readily available or free, especially in rural areas. This meant that when poor children went to school at the age of five the slower-paced ones lagged behind the quicker-thinking pupils, because Sri Lankan teachers would predominantly work at the pace of the fastest pupil and have a ‘chalk and talk’ approach to education. TVF promotes Montessori education: Michael’s mother is a retired Montessori teacher.

74 Gesmay Paynter

I’m going to give the background of this man who goes around the world empowering those who really need support.

Michael was born in London. From a very young age he was aware of other people’s struggles and the fact that some people in this world ‘have’ and many others ‘have not.’ It was Africa and Zambia, not Asia and Sri Lanka, that highlighted this. When Michael was eight his father accepted a post working for the British Government in Zambia and Michael was then sent to boarding school in the UK. His friends were from mega-rich families. However, during school holidays he went back to Zambia and realised how many poor people there were there. He told me, that as a boy, he used to think his friends in England wasted such a lot of money while in Zambia so many people had nothing. Surely there must be a way to build a bridge between these people so resources could be shared?

Michael explained that he remembered the first time he thought about this imbalance during play:

“We had woods that backed onto the boarding school grounds and we used to go there after school. I remember one day we were attempting to dig a big tunnel by our den. I imagined how amazing it would be if everyone digging put one of their toys into the tunnel and whether we could get it to go to Zambia to give those boys there something more to play with. I was sure my group would not miss this.”

Michael completed his studies, got a degree and then gained more professional qualifications. Soon he had a job earning good money and was moving up the career ladder. He became Vice-President at Alcatel but didn’t feel totally fulfilled. He first realised something was not right in 1997 when he trained all year for the London Marathon; after he had completed it he felt empty. Later that year he went to Sri Lanka for the third time and while he was there he felt the need to do something so he volunteered to paint and decorate a school in a poor area. He knew this is what he should be doing with his life but he realised

75Sharing Bananas

that it was not enough. He had travelled half-way round the world and spent over a thousand pounds to paint a wall badly. He spent the rest of the holiday travelling around the war-torn country trying to decide what he should do. He returned to the UK without an answer.

He decided that he should create a platform similar to the one he thought of when he was eight: to allow people to donate time working from home using their core skills to help those in need. This charity would be revolutionary. There was increasingly bad publicity on the rising cost bases of many charities and how much of a charitable donation actually reached the end recipients. So the Pay to Work principle was formed whereby no one would get paid or even have their expenses reimbursed. Moreover, he created the concept of a Social Career whereby people were asked to commit their time to a specific job function and perform certain tasks from home or an office for a certain number of hours per week. Most people have a commercial career but Michael wanted True Volunteers to have a ‘Social Career’ as well.

Everyone joining TVF has a Job Description, an Induction, has to provide references and needs to say how many hours per week they are available to work. It is treated like a business. Technology helps. Many people in True Volunteer still keep their ‘day jobs’. Many of the team have Blackberry phones enabling them to respond quickly to emails and communicate verbally on the projects on which they are working.

Pay to Work has brought to life an amazing proposition to prospective donors: every penny donated goes to the end beneficiaries.

Michael researched from where he could get funding and realised that the corporate sector was a potentially good market. He decided to target that sector and soon gained some sizeable donations. Corporate Donors were ecstatic as their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes were managed for free and every penny they donated was sent to the end beneficiaries.

76 Gesmay Paynter

. . . Forward seven years to when I met him. I was amazed to hear that there are over 100 True Volunteers who have empowered over approximately 110,000 people across 28 countries. Even now, no-one gets paid and every penny donated goes to those in real need. TVF has offices, which were donated in Soho, Central London, and eight full-time unpaid staff: partners have provided everything from prime office space to computers, desks, chairs and business cards.

Working in the International Development team I heard about some exciting projects including one where TVF is working with the Government of Madagascar and Microsoft with the goal of bringing computing to one million people.

Donors and True Volunteers wanted to see more projects in the UK and within months TVF was meeting the UK Government; David Cameron, the Prime Minister and other senior members of the Government were hearing about TVF’s projects.

Michael explained his theory about the Energy Law of the Universe: “I believe there is an energy law which is simple. If you do things with a good heart the Universe will work to help you. I do not know how this happens, or why but all I know is that it happens. Since I started TVF I have been many times in situations, some dangerous, and somehow, out of nowhere, things have occurred to help me and TVF.”

“I was in Warrington near Junction 9 on the M62 when I had an email from Rani King: this was out of the blue. Rani is Baroness Newlove’s private secretary. Baroness Newlove is from Warrington: she was widowed when her husband was murdered. She has become the government Champion for Safer and Active Communities.” Michael knew this was a sign and only a few months later TVF is supporting Baroness Newlove’s initiatives and has been chosen by Sir Gus O’Donnell to ensure that the Government Civil Servants are aware to True Volunteering opportunities.

77Sharing Bananas

Michael went on to give an example about the paradox of ‘ENERGY’ and how that helps True Volunteers: if you are tired you go to the gym, which should make you tired but instead it re-energises you. Likewise if you have a chocolate bar it should give you energy: it does, but soon the ‘high’ wears off and you have a ‘low.’ True Volunteers are affected by another of life’s paradoxes. Many spend all day at their day jobs and then spend their precious spare time True Volunteering. Michael explained;

“These people should feel tired: they should be run ragged. However, they are not, they are totally alive and energised by what they do. You will never meet a group with such positive energy. It’s another paradox of life.”

Michael is a great success story. He had a vision to transform the lives of under-privileged people. He took the action and made it happen. It would be good if there were more people like him in the world.

Affirmations

• I live my life with true greatness.

• I am a key person of influence.