Only about 15 children were expected, but more than 60 youngsters — plus elderly villagers — appeared for their first lesson to learn letters and numbers in the small classroom space.
The experience of launching an early childhood education program in the rural Liberian village of Gbanga had a “huge impact” on Sara Vander Velde, a 2005 Fowlerville High School graduate.
So much so that she’s asked the Fowlerville Freedom Center church to raise $30,000 by October to construct a four-room facility that would serve as a classroom, a library and an eventual medical clinic in the African village. It’s a long-term effort designed to transform the impoverished area, fulfilling the vision of locals.
Her father, Dan Vander Velde, serves as the outreach-based church’s pastor. The man served as a missionary in Sierra Leone, West Africa, when his daughter was an infant.
“We believe the Lord’s given us an opportunity to give a helping hand,” he said.
Sara Vander Velde, who works as an educator at the American International School of Monrovia, said the impact of civil war in Liberia is noticeable. Many educated natives have fled the country, and those who remained had to focus on survival, rather than higher education, she said.
A nearby elementary school in the village begins educating students in first grade, but the children are at a disadvantage with no programs to prepare them for classes.
“Oftentimes, if a student is unsuccessful in the preliminary class, they will drop out of school,” Sara Vander Velde wrote in an email to the Daily Press & Argus. “Our hope is to prepare them for success in first grade by providing a strong foundation at the center.”
The need became truly apparent the first day classes were taught, given that so many of the children were unable to fit in the current classroom space, she said. Due to insufficient space, there are still 30 to 40 children waiting outside the classroom for an opportunity to learn.
Locals have begun clearing the land and preparing the foundation for the school. Ten Fowlerville-area tradesmen and laborers have volunteered to travel thousands of miles overseas in December to help with construction.
More than $5,000 has been raised so far.
Dan Vander Velde said it’s not out of character for Fowlerville Freedom Center members to step up to help with the project. Those who make up the congregation, located at 203 N. Collins St., might not be of the “upper echelon in education,” he said, but they always feel compelled to help.
He said he’s excited to eventually extend the “strength and spirit of cooperation” of Fowlerville to the village.
More information about the Freedom Center’s Arise Liberia effort is available at http://ift.tt/1qeozGN.