Pem. Twp. students raise $850 for refugees
By JASON HARRISBurlington County TimesPEMBERTON TOWNSHIP — When she graduated from high school here in 2004, Bobbie Downs wanted to become a lawyer. She said she never expected to find herself living in Cairo and teaching English to refugees from one the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Downs is back from Egypt for Christmas. She was at Pemberton Township High School yesterday to talk to students about her work with a school operated by Gugu Community Development and Building Association in Cairo and pick up a check for $850.
Students from the group Second Chance for Darfur's Kids raised the money by printing a program for a faculty basketball game and selling advertisements to local businesses.
Downs said the money would go toward teacher salaries at the school. “The teachers haven't been paid in 42 months,” she said.
Downs said Drew University, where she majored in political science, has a strong program for sending its students overseas. When she decided after graduation to take a year off before going to law school, she volunteered to work with Refugee Egypt.
She enjoyed her time in Africa so much, she volunteered to go back and work with Gugu.
“It sounds really funny, but it has a good meaning in Arabic,” she said.
“Gugu,” she said, means the place where treasure is kept.
She works with Sudanese, Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis. Most are refugees escaping the fighting in South Sudan and Darfur. There are programs for children and she's helped establish two schools for adults. The refugees who have re-established themselves in Egypt help others who have fled the violence.
Downs said Gugu is now looking to add an after-school sports program.
“The kids have nowhere to play,” she said. “We're trying to raise money to build a playground.”
While Downs was working in Egypt last summer, high school English teacher Terry Hagen read an article about her efforts with Gugu.
“All of a sudden, a light went on,” Hagen said.
Teachers here are responsible for organizing a service project each year. Hagen, the widow of a Cameroonian citizen and a former Peace Corps volunteer, said she'd been trying unsuccessfully to get her co-workers to take on a project that would benefit Africans.
When she read about Downs, she knew she'd found a way to connect the continent to the township.
“It wasn't just about Africa anymore,” she said. “We had a connection to Pemberton Township.”
Hagen called Terri Sharp, a fellow teacher and an advisor for the Future Business Leaders of America club at the high school. They suggested raising money for Gugu to the club and students voted to take on the project.
The Future Business Leaders of America, along with members of the National Honor Society and DECA-Marketing Students of Cooperative Education club, formed Second Chance for Darfur's Kids.
The group plans to continue fundraising for Gugu. They've already collected and shipped soccer uniforms and they're hoping to raise enough money to send laptop computers to the school.
“We're going to raise money until she leaves Egypt,” said Future Business Leaders of America club President Megan Writenour.
* The article misquoted the number of months the teachers have not received a salary- it should read " 2 months" instead of "42 months."
