Beneficiary sets an example

Grace*, a modest and quiet 23-year-old beneficiary of the Alexander Forbes Trust administered by Fairheads, made a presentation at Fairheads recently to thank those who had helped her over the past three years.

Grace is about to graduate with an IT diploma in business analysis from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, where she has lived in residence for the past three years. But her achievement has been in the face of extraordinary odds.

Grace’s mother died when she was one, her father when she was nine, and she was brought up by various people as a child in the Eastern Cape. Following her matric in Stellenbosch, where she lived with an uncle, she worked at a Spur restaurant, determined to earn enough money to study business. She is also deeply devout and prayed for a solution.

Something prompted her to trace her late father’s company in the Eastern Cape, whereupon she discovered that a trust had been set up by the employer with Alexander Forbes upon his death.

Her stepmother had never told the children over the years that these funds were available. Putting the pain of this discovery behind her, Grace set about enrolling for her studies in Cape Town which have been funded by the trust.

She says of the Fairheads team: “They have been with me on this journey. Abigail has in fact been like a mother. Even though disbursements were not strictly for education expenses, whenever I badly needed something, Fairheads motivated the expense to the Trustees and permission was granted.

In this way, I have been able to work on a computer and buy spectacles for an eye problem. I feel they truly listened to my needs. Their work has not gone unnoticed by God.”

* The beneficiary’s name has been withheld for reasons of confidentiality