There are few people in life that would go above and beyond to help others in need in the community, let alone on the other side of the world – but the Ralph family are truly special. Ever since Nick, a photographer for World Vision, met a young, passionate Ugandan man named Isaac, he and his family have fundraised tirelessly to ensure Isaac gains an education and achieves his lifelong dreams – and what better way than by selling daffodils? GABRIELLA PAYNE stopped by to learn more about this inspiring story.
Tucked away in the rolling hills of Cockatoo, hidden amongst the towering trees and lush greenery, lies a little roadside flower stall.
While unassuming and humble, the bright yellow daffodils have been catching the eye of many a passer-by in recent weeks, with the little stall selling bunch after bunch.
Behind the daffodils lies a bigger, truly heartwarming story.
For the past few years, Nick and Lisa Ralph, along with their two children Harper and Arabelle, have been tirelessly fundraising in whatever way they can to help a young friend on the other side of the world – Isaac Mukisa, who Nick first met back in 2019.
Having travelled the world working as a photographer for World Vision for over a decade, Nick said he had met many incredible people throughout his life, but when he first met Isaac, he realised there was something special about him.
“So, as part of my job, working for a not-for-profit, we work with the youth and children,” Nick explained.
“So Isaac was actually a part of a story we were working on. So we went to Uganda and we filmed the story, and I thought he seemed like a pretty cool guy – you know, he sang us a song and was always hanging around us – he was clearly really passionate for photography and that kind of thing,” he said.
“And it basically all came down to a moment where I was sitting and speaking with Isaac after filming for a full day in the field, and he’d been helping me all day, you know carrying tripods and cameras and that sort of thing, and always just being right there with us, and I basically said, ‘well why don’t you do this?’ and he said ‘oh, that’s a silly thing to say, it’s impossible for me to do anything like this.”
“And I remember asking, ‘why?’ and he said, ‘well because I don’t have a university degree, and university costs so much money, it’s impossible, I could never afford it,’ – and that kind of annoyed me,” Nick said.
Later that night, still dwelling on their conversation, Nick decided to call his wife Lisa back home in Australia and put a proposition to her – why not do everything they could to help make Isaac’s dreams a reality?
It was an idea that Lisa welcomed whole-heartedly.
“I think a lot of people like to give but they just don’t know how to help people and they don’t have that opportunity,” Lisa said.
“But we’ve just been lucky enough to have this contact with Isaac and his family in Uganda, where we can directly help them and we have direct contact with them and we can see where the money is going – and he’s just so grateful,” she said.
Nick remembered telling Isaac that night in Uganda that he and his wife would help fundraise back home so that Isaac could attend university and get a degree, and he said the young man was left speechless by the gesture.
“That night I told him, he was basically flawed,” Nick said.
“He’s had a hard life, he’s experienced trauma and was forced out onto the streets where he lived for a couple of years – but after that rough turn, he basically said ‘enough’s enough’ and signed up as a volunteer with World Vision in Busia, Uganda, which is where we met.”
“So he’s a bit of a success story because he’s a young guy, and he’s able to articulate himself and he’s really turned his life around,” he said.
At just 27 years of age, Isaac has clearly been through a lot in his lifetime, but he’s never let that get him down.
Now, with the helping hands of the Ralph family, he is a proud journalism student at the Uganda Christian University and is well on the path to achieving his dreams, as he hopes to become “a voice for the voiceless”.
Since their first meeting, Nick was able to make it back to Uganda once more and meet up with Isaac before the pandemic hit, where he was able to give him a laptop and care package from Isaac’s new “Aussie family” and hear how his studies were going.
“As a family, we believe that education is the key to unlocking his future and his opportunities and without education, it’s not possible and without someone to support him, it just wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
“Education there is like gold – if you get educated you can get a job, if you can get a job you can support your family and everyone around you,” Nick said, and being the eldest of seven children, Isaac is hoping that he will lead the way for his younger siblings.
Through the kindness of their hearts and “a lot of hard work”, the Ralphs have managed to support Isaac through his degree since 2019, paying for his board and food on top of the education costs.
Although the Covid pandemic threw a spanner in the works for many of the Ralphs fundraising plans, they’ve managed to persevere, starting an online fundraising campaign that many family and friends have contributed to as well as their more recent idea – the daffodil stand.
“We’d been trying to think of ideas of how we can fundraise when we can’t really do many physical fundraisers at the moment, and so a friend of the family grows daffodils on her farm in the hills, so she offered to sell me the daffodils for $1 a bunch, and we sell them for $2 a bunch and all the profits go to Isaac,” Lisa explained.
“People have been chipping in a little bit of extra money each day, because they’ve seen that the money is going to a good cause, so we’ve had a few extra donations and the community is really getting behind it as well, which is great to see.”
Lisa and Nick said that Isaac was constantly sending them updates on his studies and how grateful he was to be working towards his dreams – and the couple have set up a Facebook page for others to follow his journey as well.
“He’s experienced a lot of hardship in his life and he really wants to tell people’s stories, particularly why people become homeless – he thinks everyone has a story to share,” Lisa said.
“That’s what he wants to do – finish his degree and go back to his little community and help them and his family, so it’s been really exciting following him and seeing his journey” she said.
The Ralphs will be selling daffodils for Isaac all season long, but if you can’t make it to Cockatoo, a Facebook fundraiser has been set up to help Isaac complete his final years of study.
To donate, head to https://www.mycause.com.au/p/260235/university-fund-for-isaac-mukisa-of-uganda or follow Isaac’s journey at https://www.facebook.com/isaacsuniversityjourney/
