For the last several years, Evan Robbins’ political institute classes have raised money to help villagers in Ghana.
This year they’re trying to do one better — raise a school.
The students plan to hold several fundraisers later in the school year to accomplish that goal. But first, the Metuchen High School teacher is off to the African nation to visit several villages and try to form a partnership with one.
“The idea is that we’ll pay for the materials, and [the village] will supply the labor,” Robbins said. “It’ll be a joint venture.”
The class will start by focusing on building a one-room schoolhouse, and subsequent classes can add on rooms later, he said.
The political institute class is a senior elective that involves studies of current events and the conditions and issues facing people around the world.
The class had discussed poverty around the globe, and in particular countries like Ghana, where parents are unwittingly selling their children to slave traffickers, believing that their children will be educated and well fed when instead they often face mistreatment. The class talked about ways they could improve such conditions in the world.
“We had all been brainstorming,” said Rebecca Grossman, one of the seniors in the class. “One of my friends [Valentina Gordon] first thought of building a school. We had been talking about how education was the fundamental way to end the vicious child slavery.”
Grossman said the class set up a website to take donations and will hold several fundraisers, such as selling beaded bracelets, a 5K run, a dinner and a concert to raise money to buy supplies for a village school in Ghana.
Meanwhile, the students participating in the program are learning that “they can accomplish something and make a difference in the world,” Robbins said.
“They can change things and feel good about it,” he said. Students also learn life skills in soliciting businesses for goods, services and funds, organizing fundraising events, and reaching out to the community, he said.
When Robbins visits Ghana later this month, he will visit three villages with a representative from the International Organization for Migration, which studies global migration. IOM has several reports about vast numbers of people leaving Ghana due to widespread poverty there. Often, children voluntarily leave their homes alone because there isn’t enough food or other supplies needed to support the families. Many times, they end up becoming victims of adults who abuse such children, according to IOM.
This isn’t the first year that Robbins’ students have gotten involved to better the lives of children in Ghana. Students have raised funds to save children from modern slavers for the last four years. In fact, many alumni are helping students with this year’s school plan by raising funds on their college campuses. Current students, meanwhile, are writing letters to area businesses, gathering support for their events and asking for donations.
“We’re reaching out to the elementary and middle schools,” Grossman said. “Everyone in Metuchen is trying to help as much as we can. … I’m finally realizing there’s a bigger picture out there.”