A present day hero

Researchers James Patterson and Peter Kim report in The Day America Told the Truth that 70 percent of Americans say they have no living heroes. Well, that isn’t true for me because I have a number of heroes and sheroes. I was introduced to my latest hero via a TIME magazine article written by Belinda Luscombe. The facts and information in this article come in part or in whole from her article in the June 14, 2010 issue of that magazine.

My latest hero is Twesigy Jackson Kaguri, 39 years old, who gave up his American Dream so that others could dream. Mr. Kaguri was born in “a remote part of western Uganda.” He is a very hard worker, studied hard and long so that he could come to America. “He had an American job, an American wife and the beginnings of a down payment to buy a house” … the ultimate American Dream.

In the year 2001 all of that changed when he took his wife back to his native country for a visit. “The grannies flooded in, seeking help raising their grandchildren left orphaned by AIDS.” He and his wife made the difficult decision to redirect their down payment … “all $5,000 of it, to build a free school for the poorest orphans in the village.” He “paid for everything – teachers, supplies, a nurse.” But he was wise enough to also “crowdsource” this effort. “Everyone in the community who lined up to ask for help or money,” he says, “we gave them a hoe or asked them to help.”

Coming back to Indiana he began the difficult task of fundraising. Anyone who has ever done any fundraising know just how difficult that horrendous task can be … especially in difficult times. “He got donations from his soccer team, the janitor at his kid’s school, local churches and the Rotary Club. In 2004 the Toronto-based Stephen Lewis Foundation gave him $25,000, his biggest grant to date.”

When the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School opened in 2003 he made a huge discover. Oh, the children came enthusiastically, but soon fell asleep in class … absenteeism rose … an answer needed to be found. “So the school started providing a meal and extended its filtered-water supply to the village.” Hygiene training was given and “grants to build bathrooms and kitchens” were issued.

Now for the fantastic good news – the results of his loving labor: In 2008 they graduated their “first class of sixth-graders, 21 of 22 students got a B+ or better on national tests. In 2009, all 26 did.”

This simple, but unusually committed hero has “started a second school, a farm and a library open to all local residents” has a book coming out this month entitled, “The Price of Stones.”

“Many people look at the problem and how big the numbers are and are overwhelmed,” he says. “But for me, I was born stubborn.” This past May he gave up his day job so that he could focus 100% of his effort and energy to the AIDS Orphans Schools. I don’t know about you, but I believe that he warrants being classified as a hero.

Here are the statistics that Twesigye Kaguri is facing: “1.7 million is the number of Ugandan children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. $5,000 is what Kaguri spent in 2003 to build a two-room school for 58 orphans in his home village. $200,000 is the amount the Kaguri’s Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project spent in 2009 running two schools for 381 students, with support services. 7,000 is the number of orphans’ caregivers given training or grants by Kaguri’s Mukaka (Grannies) Project.” And finally this sad statistic: “0 is the number of major international aid agencies working in the two districts the Nyaka schools serve.”

We all choose our heroes using our own set of criteria. Some of us, as reported at the beginning of this blog by Peterson and Kim, go through life without any living heroes. Others choose heroes that soon fall from grace as my sermon, “When Heroes Fall,” preached so many years ago when the nation was trying to deal with the O.J. Simpson situation. I like heroes who against unbelievable odds triumph … individuals who give up everything for others … people who begin to look for solutions when the problem seems so overwhelming … committed hearts who go the 2nd, 3rd and 4th mile when nobody asks them to even go the first mile.

Heroes! Do you have any?

Quote for today: A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. R.W. Emerson