Frank Agbemaple Talks About Togo Africa and its Culture.

Hello, my name is Frank Agbemaple, I’m a member of Oasis in Haltom City, Texas; and today I just want to share a little about my heart and talk a little bit about “ALC aka A Life Center”.

• What it is
• How it came to be
• What we hope to accomplish

So, ALC is a Non-Profit organization ah that stands for “Agbemaple Life Center” uh, it is aim is to help:

• Underage
• Underprivileged children

TOGO – WHAT IT IS – TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES:

Back home to just to have a normal life, ah to have regular opportunity just like everyone else even though life “may not always be fair” um so, we want to step in and bridge the gap between poverty, and allow them to have the opportunities for them to grow.

HOW “A LIFE CENTER” CAME TO BE:

So, how this came to be, ah for those of you who know me, know I was born and raised in Togo, West Africa, ah, had a very interesting upbringing ah, fleeing from a civil war to living in a refugee camp for about 7 years ah, before actually making it to the states, and when we finally did move here, I wanted to go back home, but for one reason or another, the opportunity wasn’t right. 

Some of you know I went back home last year, summer actually, it wasn’t just a nostalgic trip for me, it was also a trip that had more of meaning for me because everything that I would have envisioned had come full circle.

THE LORD SPOKE TO ME CLEARLY ABOUT A LIFE CENTER:

So, this actually came to me when I was in college, um I always had a hard core for adoption, if I was to adopt a child, I didn’t know from where or what the process looks like and going back and forth. And I always knew I wanted to do something, to give back to my home country, uh let me start a, uh an orphanage, but as I was going back in forth, the Lord was speaking to me, he made it clear to me, “I want you to open a life center”. This is where ALC came from.

WHAT AGBEMAPLE MEANS IN THE TOGO LANGUAGE:

For people who do not know what “ALC” stands for, it stands for “Agbemaple Life Center”. Uh interesting thing is, my last name is Agbemaple, and in our language “Agbe” – Means Life, and “Maple” means – You Can’t Buy, so essentially, you can’t buy life. 

TOGO CHILDREN – A SENSE OF BELONGING:

But this is a life center that wants to have opportunities for those who feel they don’t have a life or who don’t have much to give to come and have a sense of belonging.

So, three main things that “ALC” hopes to focus on and achieve, uh are these:

Three Main Goals:

1. Provide Basic Necessities– We want to take care of the kids, like to take care of their day-to-day life, their livelihood, some of the things we here in the states take for granted like:

• Food
• Clothing
• Shelter

Once we have established that, the next step we want to focus on is actually:

1. Equip with Life Skills – Whether that be uh someone with a trade-in an area.

• Farming
• Carpentry
• Being an Educator
• Service Skills

That we can offer them help them make into the society, into that culture, um then the last thing, but not least is, once we met their personal needs and equip them with life skills, we want to equip them with:

1. Biblical Studies – Our Pastor Alicia is very instrumental in creating some of these curriculums for me that I’m going to help translate into our native language for some of these kids, uh whether there, you know, if…if it is stages, uh adolescents whatever it is, we want to have something they can relate to in terms of our spiritual life; the things the Lord in our lives, we also want to impart that into their lives as well.

Mission Statement – Transform the human spirit with love and grace through the power of adoption one life at a time.

So, we want to be able to go out there and to love on these kids; these children, uh, it’s close to my heart, like I mentioned, “this is where I grew up” um, and when I went back there are two photographs that I took that really, that really spoke volumes to me, and the first one I’m going to talk a little about is this picture right here.

TOGO FRIENDS TOLD FRIENDS AND THOSE FRIENDS TOLD OTHERS:

First Picture in the Video:

I was on my way back to my parent’s house, and there were about 3-4 different kids that were in the streets and there was a vendor on the corner that sells candy, and she sells little trinkets, so I went up there and I’m like, “hey, how much would it be if I buy candy for these kids”? She gave me the price, so I called the kids over and I’m like, “Hey, pick out whatever candy that you want”, and so they picked out the candy and by the time I realized they went back and told their friends and their friends told other friends, and by the time I realized it there was a long line of kids here happy to have a piece of candy, something that we take for granted.

TOGO SPORTS – SOCCER TOURNAMENT:

Second Picture in the Video:

So, you can see uh, it’s a group of soccer players, so these kids were actually on their way to a tournament, uh I just happened to stop by the house, and I was talking to the coach, and you can see that some of these kids, some of the close they were wearing for the game was a little torn, some of their shoes they were wearing, some of the cleats, you know what we would be the custom to here in the states, I stopped and took this picture with them, and what I did, I went with them and I bought them a soccer ball; what they were playing with you know, was kinda torn, again like I mentioned, so I bought this for them, I said, “go ahead and go and win this game and the tournament, and you can see the smile on their faces as well.  

THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED IN SPORTS:

https://alifecenter.org/These are some of the things that we take for granted, um when I came to the states I was um, you know, fortunate enough to play sports. Um, I..I was also talking like these guys were that started out playing soccer, and just seeing the smile on their face, made a world of difference for me.

I hope you guys have gotten a little bit better of understanding of what “ALC” is and how much this means to me; uh, I hope you can partner with me; we aim to go and transform the lives of these kids and community.

I’m going to leave you guys with this quick uh African Proverb that says, “Tomorrow belongs to people who prepare for it today, Um, I hope this is something that has touched your heart and you want to learn more, feel free to visit https://alifecenter.org if you have any inquiries or questions please feel free to drop them in as well.

Thank you.