Tributes Pour in for ‘Ma Udua’
Safe Child Africa Founder, Gary Foxcroft, pays tribute to ‘inspirational educationalist’
16 March 2026
Today we mark and celebrate the life of a truly wonderful woman - Grace Udua – who sadly passed away last month.
It has taken me some time to write this message, such is the depth of sadness that I have had from losing my dear friend and Nigerian “mother”. Grace was a truly unique and beautiful soul. She dedicated her whole life to serving the less privileged in her various roles as an educationalist.
Grace was one of those people who was born to teach. Seeing her in a classroom always filled you full of happiness and hope for the lucky pupils. Her warmth, humour and deep knowledge of how to teach was infectious to everyone who came into contact with her. “Ma Udua” we called her, out of love and respect.
I shall always remain grateful for having met her in Nigeria back in 2003 when I was carrying out research for my Masters programme. Little was I to know that this meeting would change my life and indeed the lives of countless others. The friendship that we struck up was the inspiration for the establishment of Safe Child Africa, Universal Learning Solutions and the Stepping Stones Model School, which she managed as head teacher for the last 20 years, seeing it grow from an initial 22 pupils to well over 200 today.
Grace’s kindness and love for humanity also helped inspire two other massive pieces of humanitarian work. Firstly, I was on the back of a motorbike with her in 2006 looking for disadvantaged children to attend the school when she directed us to a group of children she knew of who had been abandoned due to the belief that they were “witches”. This encounter ultimately ignited a process that led to hundreds of such children being rescued, educated and supported to have a life free from persecution and suffering. It also ended up inspiring the passages of the Akwa Ibom State Child Rights, which included ground-breaking legislation criminalising child witchcraft accusations and, years later, the passing of a historic UN resolution on ritual attacks and witchcraft accusations. I honestly believe that neither of these would have happened without Grace.
Ma Udua’s work also inspired what has now become the largest English literacy project in Africa – Jolly Phonics. This project started in the Stepping Stones Model School and Grace quickly became one of the most committed and competent Jolly Phonics trainers in Nigeria. Over the last 15 years she personally trained hundreds of government schools teachers in Jolly Phonics, passing on her usual zeal for learning to them with her fun and passionate delivery of Jolly Phonics. Again, thanks to her, Universal Learning Solutions was established in 2012 and has now trained 261,513 teachers and 7,438 officials across Africa, reaching over 30 million pupils. Once more, I don’t believe this would have ever happened without Grace.
So, whilst I am immeasurably sad that she is no longer with us, her works lives on through the lives that she has impacted on. Her life shows us that one person's love and kindness truly can change the lives of millions. As such, we celebrate her life today and commit to doing everything in our power in the years ahead to honour her legacy.
Thank you Ma Udua for all that you have done to make the world a better place. We love you. Rest in perfect peace.
Gary Foxcroft
Ends
Other References:
Safe Child Africa https://www.safechildafrica.org/steppingstones
BRCI tribute to Mrs Udua https://www.converseer.com/rip-mrs-grace-udua/