Behind every Just Giving page is a story, and this is one of the most touching and uplifting stories we’ve come across in a long time.

Agents who are customers of software supplier Expert Agent, who are taking a keen interest in the building of a new school in Malawi, have already been donating at the rate of £1 a month to another charity.

This is the Turing Trust, which exports IT equipment and other aid to Africa. The agents have also donated dozens of computers and monitors. Expert Agent has already raised £20,000.

At the same time the agents are taking a keen interest in a journey which starts today for Dave Kayira, one of the original partners at Expert Agent.

He is accompanying his three sisters and his late father’s ashes to the Malawian village of Chimphamba to take part in the opening ceremony of the Legson Kayira school and community centre, named in honour of their father.

Legson Kayira wrote an autobiography called I Will Try. It was in the best sellers charts for 16 weeks when published in 1965 and today has lost none of its power. It would not be out of place at any motivational conference and is utterly compelling.

The book details how this young Malawian trekked across Africa in search of a new life, accompanied only by a Bible and a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress.

After enduring much hardship he secured a passage to the US, where he won scholarships to attend college and later university.

He then studied at Cambridge University and settled in the UK.

He died in 2012 without being allowed back into Malawi.

Legson Kayira’s story is told here: http://africasacountry.com/2012/10/legson-kayira-1942-2012/

Mike Griffiths, founder of Expert Agent, said: “Dave is a very modest and unassuming guy. Despite working with him for 16 years, none of us knew anything about this until Dave was asked to write an ‘interesting fact’ for his delegate badge at our conference last December. He wrote: ‘My father was a best-selling author’ and we gradually prised the full story out of him.”

The school in Malawi – where Legson Kayira’s ashes will be buried – was built by an American charity, Youth of Malawi.

Griffiths has now set up a Just Giving website to enable contributions to the school.

It has already raised more than £1,000 with a target of £3,000.

We wish Dave and his sisters well on their own journey.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/legsonkayira