Doctor Abio Ayeliya: President/ Founder, Sabu Help
Sabu Help is founded by Doctor Abio Ayeliya in 2008. Mr. Ayeliya's came from a very poor family in a rural farming village in Northern part of Ghana, West Africa. His father married two wives and has 15 including himself in which three passed a way. None of them are lucky as Doctor to have been able to attend high school and college. His mom passed away during his third year in rural High School.
In Doctor's village, nearly all of his siblings, like most children in his village have nothing more to look forward to but an exhausting life on the family farm. Unfortunately, farming in Doctor's village is not like the productive farms that most people have in America. It is subsistence farming. There are two seasons in Doctor's village (6 months rainfall and 6 months dry season). The food people produces will feed most families families for four only months. The rest of the six months is a season of hunger. Doctor recalled one point in his life in the village he wakes up in the morning hoping for nothing more than just air and water to survive daily. There was always hunger in his entire life in the village. He attended a rural high school in another village approximately 18 miles from his village but of course he will have to walk to school every day. In 1999, Doctor met Izaak Edvalson, a Peace Corps Volunteer from America. Mr. Izaak was Math and Sciences teacher at Doctor's School. In fact, Doctor was not excelling academically in classes the time he met Izakk, but that wasn't because he didn't have the heart and the desire to succeed; he just didn't have both financial and education resources. At that time he would always go to class two times a week and spend three school day on someone's farm to work to earn money and for food . Learn More
Izaak and Doctor became good friends and they always shared cultural things with each other. In two short years, they moved from been friends to a family. It was great having Izaak around him. He was always curious and eager to lend a hand to Mr. Izaak, whether it was cooking, gardening, or taking care of his pets. When Izaak realized Doctor's problems he treated him like a brother. He helped paid for the rest of his tuition for Senior Secondary School in Ghana. That wasn’t all of Izaak’s. He knew Doctor had the potential to do better in school but lack financial and educational support. He took Doctor to a better school in one of the city where he repeated at Senior High School in Ghana. He started a bank account for Doctor education. Thanks to Izaak Edvalson.
In 2001, it was sad news for both Izaak and Doctor. Mr. Izaak's time was up and he has to return to America. Doctor was sad he wasn't going to see his friend at all or for longer time, but when Mr. Izaak returned to the US he didn’t forget about Doctor. Mr. Izaak organized a fund raising campaign to bring Doctor to college in America. In September 2004, Doctor started freshmen year at Eastern Oregon University. It had been a great time at Eastern. He had learned so much that he cannot keep it to himself and always want to give back to the community. After graduating from Eastern Oregon University in 2008, Doctor asked himself, now how he could use his education to help his people and the world? What can he share with his people when he returned to Africa? What is the difference between comings to America to get an education versus staying in Ghana with his people? If all he went home with was just a piece of paper, but no opportunities to share with them? This question triggered his thinking and creativity, hence the establishment of Sabu Help with the goal of helping poor people to help themselves, find ways to produce food, earn an income, and raise healthy families.
He envisioned that by supporting the poor families will enable them to provide for their families and send their children to school. By their own efforts, they will able to support their families, emerge from the cycle of poverty and contribute in many positive ways to the long-term development of their communities.
