Making A Difference Half A World Away

By Laurie Borst

The crowd went crazy when Karen King took the stage at the Newtown Middle School on the morning of September 27. The Reed Intermediate School teacher was cheered by 150 of her students from last year.

The students, now in seventh grade, participated in fundraising at Reed to purchase supplies for the Carolyn A. Miller School in the Buduburam Liberian refugee camp outside of Accra, Ghana. Pen pal correspondence was set up between the Reed students and the Liberian children.

In August, Ms King had the opportunity to visit Buduburam, bringing supplies with her for the school and volunteering her time at the Unite For Sight (UFS) clinic in Ghana.

Besides supplies and a copier, enough money was raised to purchase three computers for the school. Soccer balls, toothbrushes, and highlighters have been received at the refugee camp. Other supplies are waiting to be shipped.

A feeling of excitement filled the air as Ms King began to tell the audience about her summer vacation, while views of life in Ghana were projected on two screens. As smiling, young faces filled the screens, Ms King said, “Boys and girls, they are just as beautiful as you are!”

After an 11-hour, nonstop flight, Ms King deplaned in Ghana. Her arrival at Buduburam was greeted with song and dance. A sign proclaimed, “Karen King You Are Most Welcome!”

Amid the singing, young voices called out, “Aidan Pelisson is my pen pal!” and “Richard Boland is my friend!”

“You truly have friends overseas who genuinely consider themselves your friends,” Ms King told the audience.

Those friends held a huge celebration, which Ms King described as “like a holiday.” Everyone associated with the school was on hand. Children donned traditional face paint and performed dances.

“Basically, ‘making Karen happy’ was the focus of the day,” Ms King explained. “I wished my students were with me to meet their pen pals in person.”

Besides the joyous celebration of welcome, members of the school presented Ms King with a number of gifts. She received two traditional dresses and matching headpieces. She wore one during her presentation at NMS. After her arrival, a pair of shoes were made for her, “once they could measure my feet,” she added.

Ms King also received a beautiful necklace of an African symbol depicting a person in the middle with the protection of God all around. It has become a favorite piece of jewelry, she said.

After the slide show, Ms King showed a video that was taken by Allison Lee. Ms Lee was a desk assistant at NBC Nightly News last spring when she began research for a story on Ghana. She found the story on Ms King’s students that ran in The Newtown Bee in June.

Ms Lee videotaped the Reed students for her story and decided to visit Ghana with Ms King. She brought her tape to show the Liberian students their American pen pals and taped them to show to the students here.

The video depicted scenes of life in a refugee camp: washing clothes in a tub, cooking on an open grill. A young girl named Ernestine is seen going to fetch water. She and other villagers walk some distance from the camp, crossing the only paved road that heads into town.

On the far side of the road, a trickle of water flowed that was referred to as a stream. Garbage littered the area. Ernestine is heard explaining that the water is used for bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, and cooking.

The video juxtaposes scenes of abject poverty and the primitive conditions of life in a refugee camp with the hopeful smiles and indomitable spirit of people who have lived this way for almost a decade. In this makeshift town, 50,000 people, almost twice the population of Newtown, eke out survival.

After the video clip, Ms King recounted some her “touristy” adventures while in Ghana. One day, she visited the rainforest where she traversed a rope bridge that ran through the canopy. “In the middle, I stopped and listened,” she told the youngsters, “and it sounded just like what you’d expect Africa to sound like with bird and animal noises.”

Another day, she hiked with a group into the woods, arriving at a waterfall where they all swam under the falls.

Ms King also had the opportunity to visit Elmina Castle, which was the last place slaves were held before being shipped to America during the slave trading days.

 

Assisting At Unite For Sight

Ms King is no stranger to volunteerism. Several years ago, she had visited Haiti in association with the Haitian Health Foundation located in Norwich. She learned firsthand of the need for eye care in the poor Caribbean nation.

When she returned, Ms King began searching on the Internet. She discovered Unite For Sight. Upon further investigation, she learned that this organization had a local connection. Jennifer Staple, founder, CEO, and president of Unite For Sight, is a 1999 graduate, and valedictorian, of Newtown High School.

While in Ghana, Ms King worked with a UFS ophthalmic nurse, rising before dawn, driving an hour or more into the countryside where they would find 200 people lined up waiting to be seen. Toiling until the sun went down, since electricity is nonexistent outside most African cities, they examined as many people as they possibly could.

Ms King performed acuity screenings and fitted people for glasses. Sunglasses were provided as well. The nurse would dispense medicine as needed. From babies to 90-year-olds, all manner of eye problems were addressed.

“When survival, food, are top priorities, eye care is a luxury,” Ms King said. “Next, we need to get more health education information to them.”

After the presentation ended, Ms King distributed letters from the Liberian students to their American pen pals. An attempt was made to divide the students by last name with teachers handing out the letters.

The excited students rushed the stage like fans at a rock concert. Remarkably, the letters were distributed quickly. Excitement and laughter filled the air as the students read their letters to each other.

Rachel Martino was delighted with pictures from her pen pal.

“It’s cool to get the letter, it took a while,” Rachel said. Among other tidbits of information, her pen pal explained the Liberian flag’s colors in the letter.

“I’m really happy to get a letter from my pen pal — it took so long,” Madigan Chrystie agreed. “I’m glad they’re all well. They’re all so sweet.

Madigan’s pen pal listed ten subjects she’s studying in school this year.

Many of the children sent pictures and decorated the letters with colorful designs. Ms King said, as an aside, that the photos were probably the only ones these children had.

There was a long lag time between sending and receiving letters. Postal service in Ghana, and many African nations, is sketchy at best. When doctors were going over for humanitarian missions, they would carry letters for the schools. This time, Ms King played postal carrier.

The teachers at both Reed and NMS will continue the exchange with the Carolyn A. Miller School. Don Ramsey and Corinne Cox will continue working with the middle school students. At Reed, Ms King will work with her new sixth graders on the project.

The Work Goes On

Jennifer Staple is going to Ghana next month, and then on to India, to continue her work. As the students filed out of the auditorium, on their way to their next class, Ms Staple and Ms King chatted about their work.

“Jennifer, you started all of this,” Ms King said. “You don’t know how many people you’ve touched.”

“It’s an honor and a privilege to work with Ms King,” Ms Staple said. “Her students have so much enthusiasm.”

Ms King explained a little bit about Karrus Hayes, a refugee who started the Carolyn A. Miller School.

“He sold ice and corn as a kid to afford to go to school,” Ms King said. “Karrus has vision. Under the most dire circumstances, he persevered. He started the school with a $50 loan from the church at Buduburam. The school serves 500 students now.”

In the refugee camp, Carolyn A. Miller is the only free school available. Other schools have been established, but parents must pay for their children to attend. Most refugees left Liberia with nothing and school is a luxury they cannot afford. Mr Hayes is starting a high school for sixth through twelfth graders.

Ms King related some of her conversation with Mr Hayes. He described the “refugee mentality” that has grown among people who have lived at Buduburam for eight or nine years. Even though Liberia has peace now, the people are afraid to go back. They remember the atrocities — and there is nothing to go back to.

Mr Hayes wants to go back. The next school he opens will be in Liberia and he is working on funding for that now. He has a vision of moving the Carolyn Miller School back to Liberia as a community.

Here in America, especially on Long Island and Staten Island which both have large populations of Liberians who emigrated to escape the civil war, Truth Tribunals are being established for Liberians to tell their stories and find some closure.