Forty-three dollars in coins, 11 notebooks, 198 pencils, three boxes of vitamins, a handful of pencil sharpeners, 228 colored pencils, and a colorful batch of books, puzzles, paper and pens. These supplies, collected in just two hours and modest by our standards, will make a big difference in the lives of schoolchildren in rural Uganda.
“They’re desperately needed,” said Anastasia Pease, a member of the English faculty and program director for the Rapaport Ethics Across the Curriculum Initiative. Pease worked with Megan Sesil ’09 and other students from Wells House last week on the Coins for Kids drive at Reamer Campus Center.
Members of the campus community are acutely aware of the children’s needs from electronic missives sent by two Minerva Fellows, recent alumni Rebecca Broadwin and Stephen Po-Chedley. The Class of 2008 graduates are helping at a health clinic and teaching in the southern part of the African country through the organization Engeye.
The drive, co-sponsored by Minerva Programs and Ethics Across the Curriculum, is a lead-in to future Union efforts on behalf of Ugandan youth. A benefit dinner and concert are in the works, and Broadwin and Po-Chedley are starting a pen-pal program for children ages eight to 14 and their American counterparts. Those who are interested are encouraged to contact Pease at peasea@union.edu or Sesil at sesilm@union.edu.
And there’s still time to give books, pencils and puzzles, they note. Bring all donations to the Center for Bioethics, Humanities 020.