Calculations in the Dirt: Why Bill Ubbens Never Took Learning for Granted

Calculations in the Dirt: Why Bill Ubbens Never Took Learning for Granted

For many of us, education is a series of milestones: the first day of kindergarten, high school graduation, and receiving a degree. But for Bill Ubbens, a longtime supporter of EduDeo, education is something much more precious because he knows exactly what it feels like to have it taken away.  

Now 95 years old, Bill recently shared the harrowing and inspiring journey that motivates his commitment to ensuring children around the world have access to the learning he was once denied.  

Ubbens family before the war, Bill is on the right.

Lessons in the Sand 

Bill’s childhood was interrupted at age 11 by the arrival of World War II in Indonesia. At an age when most children are mastering multiplication and grammar, Bill spent time in concentration camps with his mother and sisters, and later was separated from the rest of his family, living only with his younger brother. 

"Schooling was not allowed," Bill recalls. He completed only four and a half years of elementary school in four different schools before the conflict halted his formal learning. Yet, even in the camps, the hunger for knowledge remained. Bill remembers a teacher in a boys' camp attempting to teach math to a group of boys.  

With no paper, pencils, or books, the lessons were written in the sand. "It was not clear sand," Bill notes, "it was pebbles and all that in there." Obviously, the environment made learning impossible, and the teacher had to give up. But that experience of trying to solve equations in the dirt has stayed with Bill his whole life.  

From Survival to Service 

After surviving the war, reuniting with his family, and returning to the Netherlands, Bill found the resources and motivation to complete high school in June 1951 at the age of 20. Bill then immigrated to Canada. 

While on a trip back to the Netherlands in 1953 Bill reconnected with the family of a girl he had liked in high school. She living elsewhere at the time but in the spring of 1954 she called Bill and then they wrote each other bi-weekly until in April 1955 she announced that she was coming to Canada. In August 1956 they got married and had a son and a daughter.

Bill’s professional life was spent in the insurance and real estate business, and he put a lot of his energy into classrooms, not as a student, but as a builder. He served on the board of the Toronto District Christian High School.  Bill went on to serve on the board of Redeemer University and volunteered with the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools.  

An Asset-Based Heart 

When asked why Christian education is so important to him, Bill’s answer is rooted in his faith and his history. Bill’s life is a testament to the belief that even in the most resource-poor environments, there is a foundation to build upon. In the camps, he witnessed a teacher attempting to cultivate minds with nothing but the ground beneath them. This experience mirrors the philosophy of community-led development: recognizing that every individual and every region possess inherent value and potential.  

Central to Bill’s story is his unwavering faith that God is in control of destiny — a lesson he learned throughout his life.  By supporting education through this lens, Bill helps ensure that children around the world are not just learning facts, but are being equipped with a sense of purpose and a foundation of faith that no external conflict can take away. Bill says, "My wife and I have always trusted that the Lord is our Shepherd who guides us through our earthly life. Lots of money, intellect, wisdom and pride do not give us quiet assurance of safety and security."

Bill’s support for EduDeo is a natural extension of a life spent building schools. He understands that for a child in a vulnerable community today, education is the difference between a life of limitation and a life of opportunity. He supports global education because he remembers the teacher in the sand, and he wants to make sure that today, every child has a desk, a book, and a future.  

Inspired by Bill’s story? Your support helps EduDeo provide the quality, Christ-centered education that Bill has spent his life championing. Join us in building a legacy where no child has to learn their lessons in the sand. Give Today!