More than 20 Hillsborough High School alumni will join together for a night of acoustic musical performances on March 9 to participate in a benefit concert, “Boro4Bo,” to support a school in Bo, Sierra Leone.
The concert will begin at 7 p.m. at Hillsborough High School.
The acoustic concert is part of an initiative led by Hillsborough High School Social Studies teacher, Robert Fenster.
From Dec. 26 through Jan. 6, Fenster, along with nine other American teachers, traveled to Sierra Leone as part of “TransAtlantic Histories,” a program sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition out of Yale University.
The 10 American teachers were chosen to participate in this program via a lengthy application process and their commitment to participate in preparation work for the program prior to the trip.
While in Sierra Leone, the American educators were paired with teachers from the West African country.
The group visited Freetown, the country’s capital, the Bunce Island slave castle, a hub of the African slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries, and Yagala, a remote village.
In Yagala, as part of a welcoming ceremony, the teachers were invited to climb Wara Wara Mountain to visit the ancestral homes of the Limba people, a location where many escaped hundreds of years prior when poachers came to their villages seeking to enslave them.
Fenster and his partner teacher, Emmanuel Thomas, from Bo, Sierra Leone, collaborated on how to have their students work together to deepen the understanding of each other’s culture and history.
Upon hearing of Thomas’ overcrowded classrooms of 60-plus students in each section, lack of texbooks, and students with no money to pay for food, Fenster was inspired to help. He organized the upcoming musical fundraiser as a way of giving back and providing students in Sierra Leone with greater opportunities for education.
“While in Sierra Leone, I was inspired by the indomitable spirit of the people of Sierra Leone who have survived the legacy of slavery, the impact of blood diamonds, the horror of child soldiers, and most recently the scourge of Ebola,” Fenster said. “I am thrilled that so many of my current and former Hillsborough students understand the need and are joining me in this fundraiser for the Bo community.”
Money raised has already paid for bound study materials that were distributed to Thomas’ students. All additional proceeds raised will be donated to Thomas’s computer lab which currently has only three computers.
Tickets and t-shirts are available for purchase online or at the door the night of the concert. Tickets may also be purchased during school hours at the Hillsborough High School attendance office.
Money that has already been raised by the fundraiser has paid for bound study materials for students in Thomas’ classroom in Bo, Sierra Leone. All additional proceeds from the show will go towards improvements in the school’s computer lab.