ACES was set up in 2007 following a brainstorm session involving the two founding trustees. Ester is Filipino by birth and a naturalised British citizen, Philip is British by birth. We were, amongst other things, discussing a Christmas card list, and it dawned on us that most of Esters Filipino friends, no longer lived in the Philippines, but had migrated to more affluent countries - the UK, the USA, the Middle East etc. The common thread was that each had recieved sufficient education to allow them to do this, and each were supporting family and friends 'back home'. Ester was aware that she grew up knowing other youngsters who were no less intelligent than her, but whose family just did not have the money available to send them to university. Many of them are still living in the same town. Some are working, some are not. None have the level of income that people in the Western World take for granted. It did not seem right that purely due to the chance of being born into an affluent or poor family should so finally shape the destiny of the young person, so ACES was born.
We hope that all ACES Scholars treat the opportunity we are able to give them with enthusiastic respect. We ask our Scholars to support the work of ACES once they are in a position to be able to do so - not just so that we do not have to keep asking donors for more and more funds to support our work, but also as a sign that they have managed to move their life into a situation where they are ABLE to use money in this way.
We know that not all Scholars will honour our request, but we have no intention of going down a legal or contractual route. We start from a belief that most people are inherently good and honest, and that most graduates will appreciate the generosity of the donors who made their future possible.