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WILLINGBORO, N.J. (AP) — The old desks, metal chairs and other office furniture were bound for the trash here in Burlington County, but a world away, those ready-to-be-tossed items were able to help transform a school.
About 300 used desks, 150 metal chairs and over 600 books recently traveled from Burlington County to a new secondary school opened by Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Willingboro in Sierra Leone, Africa. Used filing cabinets, chalkboards, whiteboards and other materials also made the trip.
The new items, donated by Rowan College at Burlington County and the Delanco and Palmyra school districts, have set the school in the village of Gbangbama apart, even from universities in the country.
Pastor Aaron McCullough reached out to about 30 schools for supplies, and the college and districts responded to his request with items that were used but still in good shape.
"We were just familiar with the fact that every year schools go through their classrooms and they eliminate a lot of perfectly good school materials," McCullough told the Burlington County Times (http://bit.ly/1r93dip ).
He said those who came to the opening ceremony and saw the school for the first time thought the donated materials were incredible. The chiefs of the villages said they were the only school with metal desks and chairs. They had never seen anything like them before, not even at universities in the country, according to McCullough.
The school will be run through the Victory Baptist Church, which McCullough said he and his parish helped start about eight years ago. It will be a secondary school for students who have completed their elementary courses but have nowhere else to go to continue their educations. The six-classroom building welcomed 180 students on its opening day.
Delanco Superintendent Joseph Mersinger said his district donated about 70 desks and 100 folding chairs.
"We were going to throw them away," he said.
He said the students and staff didn't realize the impact their furniture could have until McCullough shared the photos from opening day with him.
"At that moment, we felt connected with people halfway around the world," Mersinger said.
McCullough said starting the school cost about $60,000. They were able to get the land donated from the chief of the village, as well as most of the equipment inside, so they had to pay only for the building costs.
He said the village had been hit hard in recent years between civil wars and the Ebola virus. Still, many of the churchgoers had asked for a school over the last few years, so McCullough was happy they were able to accomplish that. Some students are even coming from two to three hours away, deciding it was worth it to continue their education.
McCullough also said the teachers there have to make sacrifices to work with the students. They receive about $15 a month, and often have to work a second job to supplement their income.
The school is funded primarily through donations made to Calvary Baptist Church or other organizations that help out in the area, McCullough said.
It includes a garden that will help feed students while they attend school and a water pump so they can have clean drinking water.
This summer, McCullough said they will be working again with Burlington County schools to send more items, including more desks, chairs, filing cabinets and supplies.
"It's a very unique situation," Mersinger said. "What we thought was junk, it was priceless to them."
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Information from: Burlington County Times (Willingboro, N.J.), http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com
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