By Janet T. Cook | Project Leader
“Never Let a Problem to Be Solved Become More Important Than a Person to Be Loved,” is the lifelong philosophy of President Thomas S. Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Unforeseen problems were abundant when The Lord’s Hands was organized in 2020.
No computers.
No money to purchase computers.
No established criteria for selected Awardees.
No organized address for any Awardees.
However, we had an abundance of love for the many African Pathway students who were attempting to do university work on poor computers. From awarding 13 computers in January 2021 to awarding 1500 in January 2025, The Lord’s Hands has solved countless problems,while fulfilling our goal to provide computers to outstanding students.
We will deliver at least 5000 in 2025!
How to acquire affordable computers? In the beginning, computers were sourced locally in DRC. After the first three months, it was apparent that this would not be sufficient. Fortunately, a wonderful computer refurbishing charity was located in Utah that was adequate until our need increased exponentially in 2025. Our amazing African Board members solved this problem by finding a new computer source in Dubai. The cost of importing computers from Utah and Dubai is much less than buying in Africa!
How to raise money to purchase computers? Becoming part of the GlobalGiving community provided a means to raise many thousands of dollars from charitable donors like YOU! As The Lord’s Hands became recognized internationally, more funds have been donated. Thank you!
How to deliver computers to students in 31 countries which collect large custom fees to cross borders and NO postal system? No Amazon. No UPS. No Fed Express. Due to excessive local custom charges and corruption, American companies cannot deliver to most African countries. Our amazing African Board members solved this problem. Major deliveries are made to Nairobi, Kenya, and to Nigeria. Then a powerful system of known friends and religious leaders take the computers to trusted friends in 31 different African countries. Known as our Trusted Contacts, they sacrifice time and means to personally deliver computers to hundreds of outstanding students without any postal system, and not allowing a problem to become more important than helping an individual student.
How to select outstanding students from almost 3000 applications? As The Lord’s Hands’ reputation for awarding excellent computers has skyrocketed, so have the number of students applying during each competitive campaign. This creates a wonderful problem. There is no way we can evaluate over 2500 individual essays and videos! BYU-Pathway Worldwide now assists with checking student GPAs, helping The Lord’s Hands find outstanding students.
How to prevent second computers being awarded to individual students? A complete record of past recipients has been created.
How to fairly award computers to English students from higher quality school systems versus non-English speaking students from poorer school systems? Computers are awarded to various countries based upon their percentage of the total number of computers available for each campaign.
How to award 5000 computers during 2025? A beautiful problem merits a beautiful solution! Using the wonderful people from both African and American Boards, our Trusted Contacts, and YOU---our amazing donors, The Lord’s Hands will continue to support the growing number of BYU-Pathway students in Africa.
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