By Suzy Alstrin
Adetunji (Tunji) Adesesan, Director of Reinhardt’s Academic Support Office, is known for helping students succeed. In his free time, he and a group of students also help people on another continent succeed.
It started in 2012 when the African Descendants’ Student Association asked Adesesan to be their advisor. They wanted to collect books and computers to send to African students as a way to give back. In 2013, they shipped 3,500 books to a Nigerian university as part of the Afrika Reads program. The donations never stopped coming in, so Adesesan developed a faith-based, non-profit organization called Nigeria Connects. His organization recently reached a major milestone with over 100,000 books donated. It has established libraries in fourteen schools and prisons in Nigeria, as well as one in Liberia.
“This is a true picture of ‘every great dream starts small.’ The project was started by a small group of students, but it has become so big that it is impacting lives,” explained Adesesan. His vision for the charity is to promote educational, social, economic, and cultural revitalization in Nigeria by connecting institutions and organizations there with resources in the United States.
As we celebrate the holidays, let’s think of people like Tunji Adesesan who make it their mission to improve lives and impact destinies.
Donation boxes are located in all the academic buildings on campus and near the Support Services office in the rear of the Burgess building.
