In a remote part of rural Kenya, a science teacher was quietly doing something extraordinary.
Every month, when his salary arrived, he gave most of it away.
Not 10 percent.
Not 20 percent.
Around 80 percent.
His name was Peter Tabichi, a science and mathematics teacher at Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village, in Kenya's Rift Valley.
He wasn't wealthy.
He wasn't teaching at an elite private school filled with expensive laboratories, new computers and unlimited educational resources.
Quite the opposite.
His students were growing up in a community where poverty was widespread and educational opportunities could be painfully limited.
The school had only one computer.
Its internet connection was unreliable.
Classrooms were poorly equipped.
Many students came to school carrying challenges far greater than homework.
Some struggled to get enough food at home. Some had lost one or both parents. Others faced pressures that could push them out of education entirely.
Tabichi could not solve every problem facing his community.
But he decided he could do something.
So he shared what he had.
Month after month, he gave away most of his income to support poor students and families.
Then something remarkable happened.
His students began proving that a lack of resources did not mean a lack of ability.
They started succeeding in science competitions.
Academic results improved.
More students continued their education.
And eventually, the work being done in that small Kenyan school attracted attention far beyond the village.
In 2019, Peter Tabichi was named the winner of the Global Teacher Prize.
The award was worth $1 million.
A teacher who had spent years giving away most of what he earned had suddenly received one of the largest prizes in education.
But the real story wasn't the money.
It was what had happened before anyone was watching.
A Classroom Where Poverty Was Part of Everyday Life
Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School was located in Pwani Village, in a remote and semi-arid area of Kenya's Rift Valley.
According to the Global Teacher Prize's official profile of Tabichi, approximately 95 percent of the school's students came from poor families at the time he received the award.
Nearly one-third were orphans or were being raised by a single parent.
Many students sometimes went without food at home.
The surrounding community also faced problems including drought, food insecurity, teenage pregnancy, early marriage, drug abuse and students dropping out of school.
Simply getting to class could be difficult.
Some students walked as far as seven kilometers to reach school, according to the prize organization. During periods of heavy rain, local roads could become difficult or impossible to use.
Then there were the challenges waiting for students once they arrived.
The school had only one desktop computer.
The internet connection was intermittent.
The student-to-teacher ratio was reported as 58 to one.
These were hardly ideal conditions for teaching science and technology.
There were no sophisticated computer laboratories filled with equipment.
There was no guarantee that students could simply search online whenever they needed information.
Yet Tabichi looked at the students in front of him and saw something more important than the resources they lacked.
He saw potential.
Giving Away 80 Percent
Tabichi is also a Franciscan friar.
His religious commitment to simplicity and service became closely intertwined with his life as a teacher.
The Global Teacher Prize reported that he gave approximately 80 percent of his monthly income to help poor people in his community.
That money helped students and families struggling with basic needs.
It is easy to describe that generosity in one sentence.
It is harder to appreciate what it means in practice.
A teacher's salary is not an unlimited fortune.
Giving away most of it means making a personal decision, repeatedly, that someone else's immediate need matters more than something you could have bought for yourself.
And Tabichi's support went beyond money.
He invested time.
He worked with students outside normal lessons.