New Yorkers help school children in Zimbabwe

SS: MG being a retired teacher and I work in maternal and child health were interested in visiting schools and we discovered that in the southern part of Zimbabwe they had nothing: no text books or school supplies. So we decided there was maybe something we could do. MG: I have memories of huge dumpsters of textbooks that were discarded. It would be possible to transfer these books to Zimbabwe. We would go to schools and ask for unused textbooks and books and sports equipment, right now we’re getting bicycles. We would put this on trucks ourselves and deliver it to the schools. SS: we were able to see children suddenly having books to read with pencils and papers, writing out their assignments, it was astounding. MG: these schools are very rural and have no electricity or any books. We suddenly deliver books and these kids suddenly see what the world is like with these books. Also, a lot of these kids were not playing sports because of fear of dirtying their clothes and they don’t have many extra clothes, if any. So now they’re playing sports. SS: the impact on their communities has been huge.