Books and Barrels

By Peter Dewberry

​On Friday November 9, 2018 two Africa Education Partnership board members, Elaine Chagnon and Peter Dewberry travelled from Connecticut to St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in the Bronx, New York City in Ms. Chagnon’s SUV, which was loaded down with books and education materials destined for our schools in Nigeria, this was the second consignment of books we have sent

The rector of St. Edmunds, the Rev’d Ben Nnaji is a Nigerian expat, he has several projects in Nigeria for he gathers supplies and materials to ship to Nigeria. He packs these goods into 44 gallon barrels, through contacts in the shipping industry these barrels are sent in containers to Nigeria.

Fr. Nnaji has been a great help in assisting us to send books and school supplies to Nigeria.

Costs
The cost of shipping one barrel regardless of weight is $250, this includes the cost of the barrel itself.

In the Bronx
We parked and began the task of unloading the books and took them into a room where the barrels for waiting for us. Once we had all the books inside we unpacked then began packing them into the barrels. It took about three hours to sort and pack the barrels, with books and other school supplies, once they were packed, sealed and ready for shipping we felt a real sense of accomplishment.

The type of books we sent
The greatest need  is for math and science books so we felt that we had helped to meet that need. The books will be kept in the school library used as resources for both teachers and students. We anticipated sending further consignments as books become available.

A big thank you
To all who collected these books from local school districts and to Fr. Nnaji for facilitating the shipping of the barrels.

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