Steve’s Story

Steve showing the kids some video on the Flip.

Whenever it comes to charity Africa has always been my thing. I think it stems from watching Lenny Henry on Comic Relief when I was about 12.

How could someone my age (or probably even younger) be denied basic human needs like food, education and shelter just because of where they were born? It’s not fair, and it got to me. So I did a sponsored swim, made a donation and then promptly forgot about it. I was only 12 remember.

But jumping forward to 2004 I got the opportunity to go to Africa myself. Thanks to my education I landed a job running the UK office of a charity that supported projects in Ethiopia and I got to see the impact people’s generosity really has on other people’s lives with my own eyes. What I saw was both moving and inspiring. What seemed like so little to me, meant so much to them. A roof over their head, a simple vaccination, a sanitation block.

But the one thing that really stayed with me was the smiling faces of the kids who got the chance to go to school. Happy, and enthusiastic; actively enjoying being there. And their lives were being immeasurably improved at the same time.

I made a mental note that one day I would start my own charity to fund education projects in Africa.

Having done a business degree at Bath University the sensible option would have been to work for 20 years, maybe set-up my own business and then found a charity when I was financially secure. But that’s not quite how it worked out!

Since I graduated I’ve worked as a fundraiser and I’ve continually been asked one question, especially with regards to Africa: ‘Where exactly does my money go?”

Then the light bulb moment happened. Thanks to the ever increasing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube there was a cheap and effective way demonstrate the answer to thousands of people.

Take some cameras to Africa, find a community who need a school and give people in the communities a way to share their story with the world. Raw, honest and transparent so donors can see exactly who and how they can help.

The idea for LearnAsOne was born.

In May 2009 I visited Zambia for the first time with volunteer storytellers Adam, Brenda and Nerys. We met George, Saviour and the rest of the Simakakata Community and we shared their stories with you.

The journey has begun. Watch it unfold.