Book drive aims to help African youths
Goetz students preparing to ship books to Botswana
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

DAVE BENJAMIN Students at the Carl W. Goetz Middle School sort books that will soon be on their way to children in the African nation of Botswana.

Students and staff members at the Carl W. Goetz Middle School in Jackson aren't just talking about doing something to help children in Africa, they are actively involved in improving the lives of youngsters who can use a little help.

"The students and staff in our building are currently working with the nonprofit African Library Project," said school librarian Lisa Crate. "We are aiming to collect enough books to start up several libraries in Botswana, Africa.

"When the school year began I learned that one of our teachers here had visited California and met with a woman named Chris Bradshaw, who was the founder of the African Library Project, a nonprofit organization that is working to enhance and actually begin libraries in Botswana," Crate explained. "At that point I decided to get in touch with her and see what we could do as a school to help them out."

Crate learned that when schools have book drives they collect as many books as possible and ship them to Botswana.

"The goal is usually about 1,000 books per book drive," said Crate. "So we decided to start a book drive which began on March 15. It's been very successful and it has even exceeded our expectations."

Crate said the initial goal was to collect about 1,000 books. The drive is nearing 5,000 books.

"For every 1,000 books we collect we will send that group of books to one library in Botswana," she said. "At this point for the amount of books we have collected, we have enough books for five libraries in Botswana. So we are very proud of that and very excited that we are going to touch that many lives."

The African Library Project fits in well with the character building program at Goetz.

"One of the things the teachers are doing to help out [in addition to] the book collection, is teaching lessons about the area where we are sending the books," Crate said. "[Therefore,] it's also a character education program for all of the students in the building."

One of the biggest challenges associated with the African Library Project is raising enough funds for postage to ship the books to Botswana.

"It's really killing us right now," said the librarian. "Right now I'm dealing with that because the postal rate is changing. At the current rate, the cheapest we can ship is about $1.05 per pound, which at this point is about $3,000 in postage."

Crate said if the boxes are not shipped before the postal rates change (May 14), the price will go up to $4.35 per pound at which point the project organizers will have to find another way to ship the books.

With the problem of shipping costs at hand, those involved with the program are planning a Mother's Day fundraiser during which they will sell flowers, although that will not cover the expenses.

"At this point we are looking at clubs in our school that have done fundraisers throughout the year," she said. "They are going to help us offset some of the cost."

She said it would be appreciated if local businesses could help out with the postage costs.

Crate said students in Eileen Kochis' eighth grade Literacy class have helped to box the books. The students have been in several times during the week on their own time to help out, she said.

The donated books have to be sorted and must have subject matter to which the children in Botswana will relate.

"We're trying to send books that are related to families and things that are universal," Crate said. "We're also looking to send easy readers and picture books because at this point the literacy rate is not very high."

The children sort the books, fill the boxes and label each book with a label that says, "Happy reading from your friends at the Goetz School."

"There are also classes [here] that are learning about Africa," she said. "They are writing notes to the students in Africa that can be included in the boxes along with the books."

Crate also expects to send photographs of the Goetz pupils who have helped out during the project in order to show the African youngsters how the books were collected and prepared for shipping.

The librarian said she received an e-mail from Bradshaw, who was very excited about the Goetz project. Crate said she was told the Goetz project had exceeded the number of books that had been raised in any single book drive in the program.

One school that will receive the books in Botswana is the Mashikana Primary School.

"That's the first school we hooked up with," Crate said. "Since we have collected so many books, we have [also] been assigned three other schools at this point. All the schools are in the same area."

One school in Botswana had 35 teachers to instruct more than 1,000 students.

Crate said the Goetz pupils are very excited about the project.

"This is the Builders Club and their main goal is to do charitable acts," she said, pointing to a group of students who were sorting books in the school library on a recent day. "They will also be helping with the Mother's Day plants."

Seventh-grader Samantha Mahabir, 13, said it's great that students in Jackson have a part in helping children in Africa get an education.

"It's so incredible that we have so much," Samantha said. "The least we can do is share it."

Eighth-grader Vincent Castellana, 14, said he likes the idea of helping the youngsters in Africa.

"They will learn from us," Vincent said. "They can learn how to read and speak English and learn how we are. Some of them do speak English. They will be able to learn more English and spell words because there are some dictionaries in there."

"I like doing this project because we are helping people," seventh-grader Shayna Giannella, 12, said. "It will help a lot of people in Africa learn to read. It will also help them learn English."

The students at Goetz have learned that the lives of people in Africa are very different from what people in the United States experience.

"Our children learn there is no running water [in parts of Africa], there are people who live in huts and the children may be in danger when going to and from school because it may be a dangerous area that they live in," Crate said. "When you take that all into account, some of the things we consider problems seem so minuscule."

Students in Debbie Potter's film club have put together a short film that has been shown on Goetz Live, the school's TV station. The film has helped to promote the collection of books and the flower sale. It shows the important reasons why the project has been undertaken for the people in Africa.

"We really have a lot of student involvement," said Crate. "The students are benefiting and seeing that a small act, like boxing books, can make a difference in someone else's life."

When asked if a response is expected from the people in Africa who receive the books, Crate said the Goetz students don't have to get something back in return.

"Just the act of doing something is really the gift," she said.