Asteroid Bassey: What do you have in your hands?

A story is told in the Bible of Moses, the man chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Moses returned from exile empty, without nothing, or so he thought. Little wonder he vehemently rejected the divine instruction to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of bondage. There was a need, a problem at hand. There was also a man who recognized that there is a problem. He looked at the size of the problem and felt overwhelmed. God Almighty is said to have asked Moses “What do you have in your hands?” And Moses looked at his hands and saw an inconsistent shepherd’s staff. Surely, the all-knowing and all seeing God wouldn’t ask him to go and confront the then world power with just a shepherd’s staff, right? Wrong! It turns out that this insignificant staff would perform wonders, divide the red sea, and bring out water from rocks! The seemingly inconsistent was all he needed to make a difference!

Daily as we live through this earthly plane, we are tempted to look at ourselves as inconsistent and ill-equipped to solve the problems and challenges around us. Like the Biblical Moses, we look at the size of the problem and look at ourselves, we don’t look like we have what it takes. But just like the case of Moses, we often overlook what we have in our hands. The seemingly little efforts that if engaged, could make all the difference.

Enter the Akwa Ibom Education system, shortly after assumption of office, the immediate past governor of the State, Senator Godswill Akpabio declared basic education free and compulsory in Akwa Ibom State. Laudable as this initiative may be, challenges were thrown up by the policy. The infrastructure on ground was simply inadequate and the government was not prepared for what was coming. The schools witnessed an unprecedented turn out and this threw up challenges hitherto not witnessed in the state’s education system. In the first year of the policy, pupils sat under trees to learn and in some cases, a large number of pupils were left unattended. The then administration battled to contain at least some of the problems. New classroom blocks we built in the schools and a recruitment process was set in motion to hire fresh hands to engage the increased number of intakes in the schools.

For a while, it seemed sanity had returned to the public schools until early 2016, when journalists on fact finding missions reported that a large number of students in schools across the state received lessons from the floor. There were no desks in most schools for the school children to sit, and hence, they sat on the floor. The media in the state questioned the effectiveness of the free and compulsory education and urged the GOVERNMENT to do something about the ugly situation. However, somewhere in Uyo, Guest presenter with AKBC TV and media entrepreneur – Asteroid Bassey thought differently. He decided that he may not have much, but he would do as much as he could with the little he has.

Friday, 17^th November 2016, as the Peugeot “pick-up” truck drove into the St Thomas RCM primary school, Ekpene Ukim, Uruan, classes were disrupted as the children screamed excitedly and peeped out of the overcrowded classes to catch a glimpse of the Media personality’s act of kindness. Even the tutors weren’t left out as they beamed with smiles and were full of praises for Mr Bassey’s gesture.

Receiving the desks, the Headmistress of the school – Mrs Etim praised the media personality’s kind gesture and urged other well-meaning individuals to borrow a leaf from Asteroid’s Example. Speaking earlier, the donor and CEO space media group, - Asteroid Bassey promised that the gesture won’t end anytime soon. “this will be a continuous process. As God blesses us, we will do all we can to ensure the pupils here are comfortable!”

Commendable as Mr Bassey’s gesture may be, it also serves as a subtle reminder to the rest of us. It is easy to condemn the government for the inconsistencies around us, but we can do better than just complain. We can do the little we can, with the little we have and end up making a big difference. So, perhaps, we all should ask ourselves the all-important question “What do we have in our hands?” and maybe add one more question “What can we do with the little we have to make life better for the next person?”