Tackling poverty through education

The Gift:

Creating The African Canadian Continuing Education Society

The Reason:

To fund student scholarships in Kenya

Several years ago Beth Rowles Scott and her husband George were enjoying their retirement in Hawaii when they stumbled across a book called Save Three Lives by Robert Rodale, an American book publisher and early proponent of organic farming. Mr. Rodale, who died in 1990, believed the best way to tackle famine in Africa was through small agricultural projects.

The Scotts were impressed by Mr. Rodale's arguments and decided to get involved with development work in Africa. They returned home to Surrey, B.C., and began researching various non-profit organizations. That led them to Lorrie Williams who was running the Canadian Harambee Education Society, which provides scholarships to high school students in Kenya. Ms. Williams suggested the Scotts start an organization to help her students attend university or college.

The couple were thrilled and eventually launched The African Canadian Continuing Education Society in 1993 with the help of donations from family and friends.

"We believe the way out of poverty is through education," said Ms. Scott, 81, who is a former teacher and school principal. "That is our theme song."

ACCES has helped roughly 1,200 students graduate from post secondary programs in Kenya and it operates nine primary schools in the country. Several graduates have recently started funding new ACCES scholarships, Ms. Scott said. The organization is now run almost entirely by Kenyans, but the Scotts still help raise roughly $500,000 annually. Ms. Scott has also written a book about her life, called Pinch Me, and she is donating net proceeds to ACCES.

"I think this shows what one elderly couple can do," she said. "It shows that people can not only save three lives, they can save many more than three lives."