Making Good: Nurturing Nations Episode Recap
Last weekend, Making Good premiered its most ambitious episode yet on BYUtv: a special that sent our host Kirby all the way to Ghana to volunteer with Nurturing Nations. If you caught it, you know it was equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. If you missed it, here's what went down.
Kirby's whole thing is simple. He'll volunteer for anything, even when he has no idea what he's doing, and he films it so the world can see the people out there making good. This time, he combined his two great loves: food and education. Nurturing Nations feeds and educates children in Ghana, with 462 kids enrolled in its school, more than 300,000 meals served, over 100 children rescued from abusive situations, and about 1,100 people served every month.
Kirby arrived with a four-part mission: meet the legendary Percy, visit the school, shake hands with a king, and show off his dad-dancing moves. Spoiler: he did all four.
Before anyone was putting Kirby on a plane, he had to convince the founders. Lara Belk, mother of nine, and her husband Mark, an emeritus professor of biology at Brigham Young University, sat him down for what can generously be called a job interview. Kirby's experience with children? Mostly watching Peter Pan. His knowledge of Ghana? He placed it somewhere near Antarctica. His tolerance for bumpy roads? He gets carsick.
Still, they loved his energy, so they proposed a trial: a trip to the park to meet someone very special. That someone was Kai, the Belks' daughter, adopted from Ghana at age four and the first child with Down syndrome ever adopted from the country. Kai's favorite thing at the park is the slide. Kirby's least favorite thing in life is heights and tight spaces. Kai climbed higher and higher, Kirby followed, screamed all the way down, and somehow passed. He got the shirt. He was officially on the team.
Then came the moment that turned the episode. Lara shared how a dream led them to Kai, and the brutal reality she was rescued from: in parts of West Africa, children born different are sometimes seen as cursed and abandoned to die. Percy Gogo, then working for the adoption agency, found three-year-old Kai alone, hungry and scared, and carried her to safety. That rescue became the seed of Nurturing Nations. Kirby's next assignment was clear: go to Ghana and find Percy.
Finding Percy
Kirby's Ghana strategy was to wander the streets asking strangers if they knew Percy. Against all odds, it worked. Percy Gogo, Country Director for Nurturing Nations, drove Kirby straight to the campus, warning him on the way that the kids would swarm him the second he arrived. They did, and the joy was overwhelming.
Percy laid out the why behind the work. Child slavery is a problem across West Africa, often disguised as a family sending a child off to "school." The root cause is poverty, and Percy's answer is education. At Nurturing Nations, rescued kids find shelter, meals and classrooms, and they hear again and again that they're safe and nobody will take them away.
Banku duty
Percy's first order: get to the kitchen. There, Kirby met Gideon and Collins, who taught him to make banku, a Ghanaian staple of fermented cassava and corn dough stirred over a fire until it firms up. The smoke stung his eyes and the heat was relentless. As Kirby put it, he started as a naive little boy and ended as a sweaty, naive little boy.
Between stirs, the stories came out. Gideon was 12 and alone on the city streets when he heard about Nurturing Nations. He came through the school and is now headed to college. Then Miriam Gogo, Percy's wife and the head of the kitchen, showed Kirby how the kids are served: banku with okra stew, carried carefully room to room. Many children arrived malnourished, and Miriam says the balanced meals have visibly helped them grow.
The Gogos, married 20 years with six kids of their own, also shared a story that stopped Kirby in his tracks. When their own daughter was sick, they gave their last bit of money to another family whose child was in worse shape, and prayed. Within hours, their daughter began to recover. It explains a lot about who Percy and Miriam are.
An ambassador to the King
With the big celebration coming, Percy promoted Kirby to ambassador and sent him to the palace. First stop: royal etiquette lessons from Naa Fanyoko I and a whole gathering of Queen Mothers, community leaders who serve as mothers to everyone in their area. The lesson: greet with your right hand, supported by your left. Kirby practiced. Repeatedly.
Then he met the King and delivered his invitation. The King called Nurturing Nations a very significant project, especially for its care of children with special needs. Floods in the Greater Accra region meant he couldn't attend himself, so he sent his Queen Mothers and the local chief to represent him, and gave the organization his full blessing. Mission item three: complete.
Percy also walked Kirby through the neighborhood where he grew up. It turns out Percy was already helping around 400 kids before Nurturing Nations came along. And this was the very neighborhood where a toddler named Kai once ran up and hugged him. Some call it coincidence. Kirby calls it a miracle.
Dance lessons, beads and a canopy bridge
To prep for the celebration, Kirby followed the sound of drums to Isaac of the Akua Cultural Group, who taught him a traditional Ghanaian dance on the sand. Kirby struggled, Isaac pushed, and by the end Isaac's verdict was that Kirby dances with his spirit. High praise.
Next, Kirby and Collins traveled to a remote village where Lucy and other women make glass beads by hand: grinding glass, firing it in a kiln and stringing the results. Bead making has given these women a way to earn income for their families, and Percy helps by supplying the expensive materials. Kirby and Collins made a necklace in the colors of the Ghanaian flag as a gift for the Queen Mother. While they worked, Collins opened up about his past. He used to beg on the streets. Now, he says, he wants to become a great man like Percy.
Then came Kirby's biggest fear yet: a high canopy bridge. His guide was Odarley, a young woman who has a disability, finished high school anyway, and wants to become a lawyer to help people with disabilities. She was brave, encouraging and endlessly patient while Kirby shook, screamed and at one point told her to save herself. They made it across together. It's the kindness-received, kindness-given idea in action, and it gave Kirby the confidence he needed for the big day.
The celebration
Mark and Lara arrived in Ghana relieved to find Kirby alive, carrying a backpack stuffed with everything, including spare malaria pills. Kirby proudly reported he'd checked off every item on their list.
The next day was the celebration Lara had dreamed about for years, honoring children who have overcome enormous obstacles. For the first time, royalty came to the Nurturing Nations campus: the King's direct representative and several Queen Mothers. Kirby presented the flag-colored necklace he and Collins made, and the Queen Mother wore it proudly.
Then Kirby took his place in the dance alongside Collins, Gideon, Odarley and the kids. Midway through, Odarley went down, having pushed past her physical limits, and Lara lifted her up. For Lara, it summed up the whole mission: go as far as you can, don't give up, and give it your best until you can't anymore.
The episode closes on a reminder from Percy that this work runs on faith, and from Lara that every month, when the money to feed the kids seems short, someone steps forward. Kirby left Ghana changed, and with a new understanding of what Nurturing Nations really is: a way to lift people up so they can go out and share the light.
Watch and get involved
The full Nurturing Nations special of Making Good is streaming now on BYUtv. Watch it with your family, then share it with someone who needs a reminder that good people are out there doing hard things.
Want to help? Nurturing Nations sends 100% of donations directly to the children it serves. Visit the Nurturing Nations website to learn more, donate or volunteer.
Thank you to Lara and Mark Belk, Percy and Miriam Gogo, Kai, Gideon, Collins, Odarley, Lucy, Isaac, Esther, the Queen Mothers and every child at Nurturing Nations for welcoming our crew. It was an honor to tell your story.
