Rotary Book Collection for Kids in Nigeria
Dr. D. Michael Hart
School children in Westfield, NJ, USA collected books for the school children in Obike, Nigeria. This is the first year that Obike will have schools for children, and they need English language books to stock their new libraries.
The Rotary Club of Westfield sponsors six student service clubs in our public schools: “Interact” Clubs for the High School and Intermediate schools; and “Early Act” clubs for the Elementary schools. The goal of the service clubs is to teach the importance of giving back to those in need.
The Rotary Club of Westfield recently raised $30,000 to buy medical supplies for a new medical clinic in Obike, Nigeria. Father Kingsley, a priest formerly of St Helens Catholic Church in Westfield, grew up in Obike. He started DMIWOO (Divine Mercy International Widows and Orphans Organization) https://dmiwoo.org to give back to his community. Fr Kingsley has been working to build this medical clinic for over 2 decades. The Rotary Club of Westfield helped him accomplish that goal by providing a Global Grant of $30,000 to purchase medical supplies. Rotarian Clark Lagemann of the Westfield Area Y wrote the Rotary Global Grant application to support the Medical Clinic. Father Kingsley travels back to his hometown in Nigeria on a regular basis to check on the progress.
Father Kingsley’s latest project has been building three new (and only) schools in that town. The next closest school is in a town 5 miles away, so many of the local children have to travel several hours a day to get an education. The population of Obike is 20,000, a few thousand people smaller than Westfield. Just imagine if Westfield did not have any doctors’ offices or schools!
Hearing about this need for English language books, three of the school’s Rotary clubs sprang into action and started collecting books.
Julie McGeough, PTO liaison for McKinley School, counted over 3000 books collected by the children. Cathy McGarry is the McKinley School Early Act club advisor. The Jefferson Early Act Club is estimated to have collected over two thousand books. Dr Susie Hung was instrumental in getting the book drive off the ground. Joanna Leach is the main contact for the Jefferson School Early Act Club. Due to the club’s large size, there are several other teachers who assist. The Roosevelt Intermediate School Interact Club kids collected 1,800 books. Their advisor is Mrs. Kimberly Bennett.
Westfield Rotarians loaded a cargo van, provided by Access Self-Storage of Garwood at a discounted rate, with over 5,000 books collected by the schools Early Act and Interact Clubs. Liz Ensslin, Past President of the club, and Rotarian Mark Wright drove the van with the books to Hartford, CT to go into a shipping container leaving for Obike, Nigeria. A neighbor Julie McGeough, Joe Ensslin, Past President Bill Bonsall and Rotarians Heidi Caponigro and JoAnn Araya helped load the van.
When Fr Kingsley realized how many books were collected, he said, “This is such amazing news. I am totally speechless to hear about the success of your efforts. It really warms my heart!”
Fr Kingsley is hoping to open the schools in August. The books are going over in a container ship with dozens of bicycles for the kids, fishing poles, gardening tools and two cartons of book marks made by the students at McKinley and Jefferson Early Act clubs. For more information on Father Kingsley’s charity, DMIWOO (Divine Mercy International Widows and Orphans Organization) visitdmiwoo.org.
Rotary International includes 1.3 million business men and women in 166 countries around the world. It is a business networking and service organization. The Rotary Club of Westfield meets the first 3 Tuesdays of each month, twice in person, once by Zoom, and has a service project every month. Guests are always welcome. For information, contact Secretary Dr. Michael Hart drmhart@yahoo.com or go to our website westfieldrotary.com.
Courtesy photos
