UK Students Send Massive Shipment of Textbooks to Cameroon Schoolchildren

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 18, 2016) — Shipping pallets with thousands of pounds of textbooks are currently traveling across the Atlantic Ocean and headed for the hands of schoolchildren in Cameroon, a country in sub-Saharan Africa. A research team at the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Paducah Campus spent nearly two years collecting the books and raising money for shipping costs.

Jeffrey Seay, assistant professor at the UK College of Engineering Paducah Campus and faculty advisor for the UK Appropriate Technology and Sustainability group (UKATS), has witnessed firsthand how precious education is in Cameroon. His undergraduate research group has been working with the African Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (ACREST) since 2012. During their visits to Cameroon they had the opportunity to tour several village schools.

"Cameroon is one of the most literate countries in Africa, but the schools are seriously lacking in books and supplies," Seay said. "Because we are focused on service learning, my students and I wanted to help. During the last two trips we brought textbooks in our luggage, but we were looking for a way to do more."

With the help of 20 students involved in UKATS, UK staff, area schools Paducah Tilghman High School, St. Mary School System and former school systems Lone Oak and Heath, thousands of pounds of books were collected to send to the village of Njong. Shipping that many books from Kentucky to Cameroon came with a hefty price tag initially – $30,000.

Emmanuel Fonji, COO and owner of One Way Group Shipping, was in charge of getting the books to Cameroon. Ironically, he and his wife happened to be from the same village where the books were headed.

“If someone else can be excited for your own country like this, I had to do all that I could to make sure this happened,” Fonji told the Paducah Sun last month.

Fonji then took action to reduce the shipping fee as much as he could, down to $7,300, and UKATS was successful in raising the remaining funds from the community for the four-month long shipping journey.

Chandi Joshi, a chemical engineering junior at the UK College of Engineering Paducah Campus, has been passionate about this cause since her senior year of high school. With the help of Heath High School, she was able to collect 1,500 books for the project.

"The village students are eager to learn, but they have no textbooks," she said. "They were especially interested in math and science. I'm really glad we were able to find a way to help."

Seay said that the program helps students broaden their horizons and realize that all cultures want and need the same things.

"This shipment represents a nearly two year effort for our students collecting books from local schools and raising the funds required to cover the shipping costs," he said. "It has been really great seeing the result of all the efforts the students put in, and it's been great for our community to see just how dedicated UK students are to helping to create educational opportunities around the world."

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu