Through his charity, I Am Someone, Steve Argent has worked tirelessly for 18 years to raise more than $4M and help thousands of impoverished children living in Uganda, Kenya and Sierra Leone.
The charity has given more than 11,000 impoverished children a helping hand by setting up 12 schools and eight children’s villages. It has focused on 530 incredibly disadvantaged kids, supporting them throughout their lives, well into adulthood.
“We work with the bottom of the bottom, where no one else is helping. This is proper hunger we’re talking about,” Steve told the Express.
“These are kids who have no one, no parents and no functioning networks. Things we take for granted, meals, school, a bed, a hug at night. They don’t have any of that. They literally have no belongings.
“But we’re blessed to have some of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet running our programs there.”
Last month, Steve, who lives in Campbells Creek with his wife and two children, and Castlemaine local Mark Anstey went back to Uganda armed with the emotionally arduous task of interviewing and selecting just 35 out of 110 children in need of support.
“We heard heartbreaking tales – it is almost impossible to describe how tough life is for the majority,” Steve said.
“In most cases, those we spoke to live in a basic mud hut, have broken polythene bags as some kind of bed for an entire family to sleep on, broken rags are clothes, feet are bare and stomachs are empty.
“I’ve done this for 18 years and some situations this time have really broken me. A grandmother struggling to provide for her three orphaned grandchildren – there were five but two of the youngest had recently died from malnutrition.
“How can people simply not have food to survive? The poverty is crushing.
“Another boy has HIV, does not know his mother, and lost his dad to a hippo attack. He’ll never go to school, have medicine when sick, and doesn’t know where his next meal is coming from.
“It was a stark reminder of how it all once began for the children we’ve helped and testimony to the fact that we can help change this.”
During their recent trip, Steve and Mark spent 17 action-packed days crossing the country and reconnecting with almost every child the organisation had been helping since it began in 2010.
“The kids we met long ago, who were living in situations of incredible hardship, are now all forging new lives empowered by education and vocational training,” Steve said.
“Many are in work; employed as chefs or receptionists in hotels, we have mechanics, hairdressers, plumbers, shoemakers, small business owners, and many others soon to be completing courses to become surgeons, lawyers, social workers, construction workers, vets, and so on.”
One of the highlights of Steve’s trip was a visit to Emmy, one of the first children he helped 18 years ago who is now studying to be a surgeon.
“When Emmy was a boy he would go on a four-hour walk to collect logs from the forest, which he would sell for 20 cents to pay for his school fees. And then the fees went up and he had to drop out. That’s when we met him and now he’s studying to be a doctor,” Steve said.
“The ripple effect of what we’re doing is amazing – the children we work with go on to help others. Emmy, for example, is now helping to send his six cousins to school and working towards building his grandmother a new mud-brick house.
“These are thriving young people – once so fragile. To see the results of years of effort and struggle was truly emotional and inspiring.
“The programs we run with our local project partners are clearly working. It’s a long-term strategy, working from the very bottom and it works! I truly believe that if we had enough money we could eradicate poverty.
“As per usual the need is so vast and so we always push ourselves a little further than maybe we should and take on too many children and so we are on the lookout for new donors,” Steve said.
Anyone able to help support Steve’s mission to eradicate poverty can donate to I Am Someone.
One hundred per cent of the money donated goes directly to supporting the children and as little as $25 a month will help a primary school aged child fight their way back from poverty by providing food, education, support and medication, and $40 could help a child reach secondary school and beyond.
All donations are tax-deductible and can be made to I Am Someone: Account 12333856, BSB 313140 or by visiting: iamsomeone.org.au/donate-now.
To ensure all money raised goes directly to the children, Steve sells beautiful photographs at The Mill and Castlemaine Artists Market to raise funds for administration costs, so make sure to check them out.
To find out more or to volunteer visit iamsomeone.org.au
