What’s a time you followed your gut and it turned out to be exactly right?
Sometimes you meet someone briefly and sense that they are trustworthy.
I met him in Tanzania. I was there working on a project and he was assigned as my translator when I spoke at a church. We were together for only about four hours. That was not long enough to know his whole story, but it was long enough to form an impression. He was careful, respectful, attentive, and serious about the work we were doing. I simply had the sense that this was a decent man. At the end of our time together, I gave him my Bible because he did not have that translation.
A year later, he emailed me unexpectedly. His son had been accepted into a medical degree in China, but the family did not have the money to support him. He asked whether I could help, even just a little bit. I did not know what to make of it. Was the request genuine? Was I being naïve? I had only known him for four hours. But I remembered my first impression. So I decided to help, but with a simple safeguard. I asked him to send me a copy of his son’s academic transcript each semester. He did. Semester by semester, the transcripts came. His son worked hard and did well. He completed his studies and is now working as a doctor in the hospital system in Tanzania.
Later, my translator asked whether I could also help support his daughter as she studied Computer Engineering at university in Dar es Salaam. So we did the same thing again. She studied, worked hard, gained some experience, and is now completing an MBA in the United States. She hopes to work for one of the major computer firms. We are still in contact.
When I look back, I am struck by how much came from one small act of trust. A brief meeting. A Bible given away. An unexpected email. A decision to believe that the character I had glimpsed was real.
Trust does not have to be careless. Asking for academic transcripts was a way of making the support responsible. But the main lesson for me is that small acts matter more than we realise. At the time, it felt like a modest contribution. I was simply helping a young person pursue an opportunity that was beyond the reach of his family.
Yet that one act helped open a door. Then another. Then another. A son became a doctor. A daughter became an engineer and then a postgraduate student. A family’s future changed direction. It began with a moment of intuition that I could easily have ignored.
There are some people whose character introduces itself before anything else. I sensed that in him, and I am grateful that I listened.
One small act of trust can become years of opportunity.
The Afterword 
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