PCV Brad Wagenaar, town of Clifton, is a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer in the African west central country of Cameroon. His task is to promote rural public health. One project involved digging a new well to tap clean ground water as opposed to dirty surface water. His newest project is building a new primary school. Interested River Falls area residents can contribute. Next to Brad is his mother, Diane Mayberry, who visited him with her husband Steve in November. Cameroon villagers stand nearby.
(From River Falls Journal, Wisc., 2/1/10)
by Phil Pfuehler
Most college graduates want a decent-paying job and to move on with their lives.
Not Brad Wagenaar. Not yet. He’s moving on, but not for himself.
The rural River Falls resident graduated from St. Olaf College in Minnesota with a clinical psychology degree.
Through the nonprofit group Bike and Build, he cycled 3,527 miles one summer through Florida, Louisiana, Texas and California, stopping to put up Habitat for Humanity affordable houses and raising money for the homeless.
After that he signed up for a two-year stint in the Peace Corps and got sent to Cameroon, a west-central African country that borders Nigeria.
His assignment: Public health improvements in the hinterlands among 20 villages with a collective population of 90,000 served by a two-bed hospital.
“It’s amazing, really, how much responsibility they assign to these young volunteers,” says Steve Mayberry, Brad’s dad, whose town of Clifton home borders Kinnickinnic State Park.
Brad has worked with Cameroon villagers on AIDS prevention education, early childhood development, proper hygiene, and urged couples to feed their kids a high-protein meal called “soybean mash,” which is grown locally.
There are language, religion and cultural barriers to overcome, says his father, Steve. The women tend to be segregated and less inclined to speak with men.
Brad’s first public health project was raising money and finding a German charity to dig a new well for cleaner drinking water.
His next project is to build a furnished, modern, primary school for some 500 kids ages 6-15 in the village of Ketcheble.
Locals have raised part of the money for the $21,000 school, but Brad is also seeking outside funds.
“He needs about another $5,800 by the end of February,” says Steve. “This will be a school using local labor that’s made of concrete blocks and a metal roof, with desks and chairs, that should last for 50 years.”
Two mud huts with rock walls and dirt floors now serve as schools. Each is smaller than most American living rooms.
One has a stick roof that gives shade but no protection from rain. Inside there’s only a blackboard and plastic chair for the teacher. The other school hut has rocks and planks for sitting.
School attendance is low and the villages find it hard to attract teachers with such primitive facilities.
Steve says that he, his wife and Brad were inspired by book “Three Cups of Tea,” written by humanitarian Greg Mortenson.
Mortenson started Central Asia Institute which cooperates with rural natives in Pakistan and Afghanistan to build schools. His mother, Jerene Mortenson, was principal at Westside Elementary in the 1990s.
It was Westside students in River Falls and their “Pennies for Pakistan” fundraiser that launched Mortenson school-building efforts that are now globally acclaimed and supported.
“What Greg Mortenson is doing gave Brad the idea to build a school,” Steve said. “Education is important because of its lasting value, and Brad is into sustainable projects, those that live on forever.”
The best way to support Brad Wagenaar’s school building project in Cameroon is to get out your credit card and visit this website: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=694-154. There’s a link to donate.
If people would rather mail a check, Steve said to use his town of Clifton address: Steve and Diane Mayberry/W12617 770th Ave./River Falls, WI 54022.
Hello,
Our son is in the PC there and would like to get the word out about a project he needs funding for…
Here is his story:
We have just learned that Brad has a project all scoped out – to build an elementary school in Cameroon. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone you think might be interested in helping. We are very proud of his work there. Here are the details on the Peace Corp project he needs to raise $$ for:
Brad needs financial help to build an elementary school for Ketcheble, a hard working self starting village in need in Cameroon. The current elementary school for 300 students is made up of two woefully inadequate one room buildings each smaller than most American living rooms. The youngest students’ building has a roof of sticks that provide shade but no weather protection. It can’t be used during the 3 to 4 month rainy season. It also lacks floors, doors or windows and furniture except a black board and a plastic chair for the teacher. The older students have a tin roof, a door and sit on rocks or on planks between rocks on the ground. The Cameroon government provides two teachers and the villagers pay for a third. Class attendance is low. The funding Brad is seeking would build a new larger building with floors, walls, doors, windows, two class rooms, roof and furniture. It will be a key element in improving the education of the five village area that attends it.
$5,500 more must be donated by the end of February for the project to happen. This added to the $14,700 Brad has received to date from the local villagers and the US donations that are just coming in, will totally fund the project. The construction must start the first of March to insure it will be completed in the final 7 months of Brad’s 2 year Peace Corps stint.
You can use this link https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=694-154 to see the official Peace Corps project description, see amount of additional funding needed currently and to make a credit card donation for this project. Also, if you know of a group/corporation that can make a significant donation, the Peace Corps can provide documentation thanking them for their support and describing the project in more detail.
100% of your donation will go to Brad for his use in paying for materials and labor to build the school. There is no money spent on overhead costs. Brad does all the planning, coordination and administration for this project at no charge. The Peace Corps gets your donation changed to local currency and delivers it to Brad with no reduction. Unlike all official aid to Cameroon the corrupt Cameroon government doesn’t rip off a huge chunk for their self enrichment. As soon as the Peace Corp notifies Brad that the total donations have been received, Brad and Hamidou (a local volunteer who owns/runs one of the few stores in a nearby larger village where Brad lives) will go to Maroua, the state capital, and buy all the materials needed. They have the material lists prepared and agreements in place with the suppliers. The villagers from Ketcheble will provide their community owned “market” truck to transport the material to the building site. The next week, Halidou, the best local mason/building contractor will direct the Ketcheble volunteer workmen to find, prepare and move local sand and gravel to the site. Halidou will provide and supervise the skilled craftsman at customary prices to build the school. The school will be complete by June this year before the rainy season stops all construction till October. Both Hamidou and Halidou have proven experience in the local community and Brad knows them both well.
If you choose to donate and the project is not fully funded, your donation will be reassigned to another Cameroonian project that can be fully funded. The Ketcheble community understands this is a lot of money to raise and though disappointed will understand if can’t happen. They will still be happy as Brad has already received funding from a German charity to add to the villagers $500 for a simple drop a bucket in properly dug and covered well for the village. This will provide their first dependable source of clean water. The well will be dug and completed this April.
I have attached pictures we took at the site during our November visit with Brad and the villagers. Ketcheble along with most Cameroon villages is not on any published map. I have also attached a photo of the hand drawn map Brad has made to help him organize his work in the 20 or so smaller villages that surround Hina where he lives. Hina can occasionally be located by an experience geographer. The Extreme North state capital of Maroua is simpler to find.
Please feel free to E-mail or call Brad’s parents (Diane and Steve Mayberry at Stevemayberry@centurytel.net ) or Brad (wagenaarb@gmail.com) if you have any questions or suggestions. Brad can be hard to reach for extended periods of time as he (his entire village) has no computer or electricity where he lives and works.
Thanks in advance for considering this and helping us with this fund raising effort,
Diane and Steve Mayberry
Cameroon RPCVs are continuing to make a difference—in Iraq this time. While at a PRT team leaders conference in Baghdad this month, several serving there in various positions had the chance to meet and catch up, presumably discussing where it was possible to find fufu in Iraq. Pictured (l-r) are:
Andy Snow (Nanga-Eboko/Yaounde 75-78)
Patrick Murphy (Yagoua/Yaounde 85-88)
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher R. Hill (Buea 74-77)
John Underriner (Mbalmayo/Yaounde 82-84)
Ron Verdonk (Ebolowa 80-83)
Not pictured but also in Iraq: Charlie Russell (Fundong 81-84) and Jim Dobson (PC Country Director)
You can read the latest FOC newsletter here…
by Tom Perkins
Ann Arbor.com
Freshmen biology students at Ypsilanti High School recently started a new lesson, and when they stepped through the door of room 114, they didn’t know what was in store. But one thing was certain – it was “Sowder time.”
For the hour of the day that’s known as such, students receive an education delivered by Hans Sowderевтини мебели, the 2010 recipient of the Michigan Science Teachers Association “Science Teacher of the Year” award.
“I was surprised that I won, but it really charged me for that two-day week,” said Sowder, who learned about the honor via e-mail on Nov. 23.
Among other reasons, the 10-year Ypsilanti High veteran was chosen for the award for exhibiting a passion for teaching, developing innovative teaching strategies and being an excellent role model for students.
When three of his ninth-grade biology students were asked what they liked best about Sowder’s class, all three replied in unison, “Labs!”
“We’re not in here just sitting around, we’re actually getting up and doing something,” Zachary Meyer said.
On a recent day, Sowder had his students learning about the respiratory system and carbon dioxide production in the body. Using a straw, they exhaled into a pink solution of sodium hydroxide and phenolphthalein. When the kids blew into the liquid, the carbon dioxide coming out of their bodies, which is a base, turned the acidic solution clear more quickly, depending on how much of the gas was exhaled.
By taking one another’s pulses and breaking out stethoscopes to track heart rates, his students could measure how much of the gas their bodies produced while in a normal state.
But that’s just one day. The next day, the students would run several laps around the indoor track in the gymnasium and take the same measurements. On the third day, Sowder dimmed the lights, sparked some incense, turned on relaxing music and had students take the same measurements.
By the end, the students had a data table exhibiting how much carbon dioxide their bodies produced under various conditions, demonstrating a connection between its production and heart rate and pulse. “When they’re able to see those connections, it’s powerful,” Sowder said. “They start to understand what’s going on inside their body.”
Influential to Sowder’s educational approach are his experiences in classrooms across the globe – from three years teaching in Cameroon with the Peace Corps to a year at an Alaskan school in a remote “fly-in” village with his wife, to Kettering High School in Detroit.
Sowder said his years at Kettering were particularly educational because he learned to wear many hats – that of a teacher, father figure and friend. “I loved developing much richer relationships there,” he said. “That was something that was exciting at the time.”
Sowder further credits his colleagues, especially at YHS, for inspiring him and setting an example on how to excel in education.
“I have learned so much from my other colleagues, and I wouldn’t be the teacher I am had I worked in a vacuum,” he said. “There have been a lot of teachers in my life trying new things and not being afraid to do so, and I’ve taken pieces from what I’ve seen of them.”
Sowder said it’s his obligation to provide the students with an education. “I’m going to expect excellence from them every single minute of the hour, but I’m going to give it to them as well,” he said.
Sowder said he considers himself “on stage’ while teaching, and his passion for science is no small part of what keeps students engaged. “Science is so excellent,” he said. “It’s the study of all that’s been created around us, and it’s a wonderful to understand intricacies and complexities of its laws.”
Sowder was nominated for the award by Richard Weigel, the district’s assistant superintendent for educational quality. He will receive an award at a ceremony in March in Lansing.
“Mr. Sowder represents the caliber of highly qualified educators that we have in our district,” Superintendent Dedrick Martin said. “We are very proud of his accomplishments and anticipate that more great things are on the horizon for him.”
Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
By: Shane Anthony
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A few months ago, we wrote about Wendy Lee’s efforts to bring thousands of books to Cameroon. Not long ago, she announced on her blog and on Twitter that she had reached her goal.
Wendy Lee with some of the children from her village in Cameroon.
Lee, a graduate of St. Charles High School and St. Louis University, has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon since June of 2008. She started a project called Books for Cameroon with a goal of raising $11,500 to buy 22,000 books. She drew inspiration from children she taught who didn’t know how to read.
In an e-mail interview this week, Lee said she learned the project was fully funded when a retired Peace Corps volunteer e-mailed her. “It’s been a few days now, but I still have a hard time believing that we had raised all the money, and I can finally stop begging,” she wrote. “But more so, I cannot believe I am really going to go build 30 libraries now!”
The begging Lee mentioned took place largely through social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. Officially, 200 donors gave to the project, although Lee thinks others might have donated anonymously. Money for the project came in from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Australia and Italy.
Lee said she has been visiting some of the schools she is working with to check their progress in preparing the libraries. “That was really rewarding to see things moving forward,” she said.
She said a team of volunteers is designing library management training that will take place around January and working on ironing out the logistics of moving the books from a 40-foot shipping container into the new libraries.
In between her work on the book project and teaching classes, Lee has blogged about her experiences living in a village without running water and shoddy electricity.
She also has kept in touch with her family through e-mail and Skype. Her parents, Jimmy and Susan Lee, live in St. Charles. Younger sister Sherry is a college sophomore in the northeast.
Susan Lee said Wednesday that she is very proud of both of her daughters and their hard work. Wendy Lee moved to the United States from Tawain in 1998. The rest of her family followed in 2000. Susan Lee said both her daughters had to study hard to learn a new language.
Wendy Lee now speaks at least four.
“I’m really proud of her doing such a big project,” Susan Lee said.
You can follow Wendy Lee’s blog here and the Books for Cameroon Facebook page here. She said she hopes supporters will follow the project’s progress.
Meanwhile, she is preparing for the next step in her life — applying to graduate schools in the U.S. and Europe to study international relations and economic public policy.
Article printed from Chas Beat: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/chas-beat
URL to article: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/chas-beat/schools/2009/11/peace-corps-volunteer-from-st-charles-reaches-fund-raising-goal-for-libraries-in-cameroon/
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