Dispatches

by Fr. Peter Abue

May/June 2007

Dear Friends of CORAfrica,

Greetings from Nigeria!

The last few weeks of May were preoccupied with thoughts of my USA trip. Having been back, I feel it is appropriate to give an update on some of the major highlights of that trip that took me through the towns of Ithaca, Dryden and Groton in NY and also Butker, PA. 

On my arrival in the Ithaca, NY area on Monday, June 4th, a dinner was arranged to welcome me and enable an interaction with a host of CORAfrica friends. The dinner was held at the Dryden, NY home of the Shickels and was hosted by Marion Schickel. About 25 friends of CORAfrica attended and after exchanging pleasantries, we settled on updating on the work of CORAfrica.

In my update, I informed those present of my efforts to negotiate land for the proposed community education center at Ipong and also appraised the increasing needs of rural children in that particular area where I have been posted since February this year. There is a total population of about 1.4m, a great percentage of which are children who do not have any hope of attaining basic quality education for the rest of their lives. These children do not only face educational challenges, but also challenges in the area of health and the lack of basic social amenities. I reminded everyone that the only option open to such children in Ipong, as in other locations, is to build up alternative educational settings based on solid community ownership where children not only enjoy a new kind of education but also are afforded forums to share a good life with other children as well as the entire community. Communities need to be economically buoyant through micro-credit facilities, which help them fulfill these needs and cater to the needs of their children. However, we all agreed that so far CORAfrica lacks the resources to embark on such progressive work and so we need to discuss various ways in which we can improve our fundraising techniques to match up the needs of our programs.  These challenges gave rise a two-hour brainstorming session by those present that Monday, June 4th, 2007.

Friends of CORAfrica at a Dinner with Fr Peter Abue

The generative issues that friends agreed needed to be addressed were: Getting more people interested in the work of CORAfrica, especially using the person of Fr. Peter Abue, who had spent several years doing good work for the people in the Ithaca region during his years as a student in Cornell University. CORAfrica needs more hands in the area of volunteers to join with the wonderful work Derek and Emily are doing. A formidable team of fundraisers will not only help to raise funds, but also awareness both locally, national and internationally about CORAfrica.

Members agreed that local companies and charities needed to be contacted for support on various programs. Most importantly, members suggested that it is necessary to organize a benefit in the near future based on the needs in Nigeria. The following members volunteered to form the organizing team to plan the benefit: Carolann Darling, Barbara Watson, Trina Schickel, and Bruno Shickel. A few other resource persons in the churches Fr. Peter had worked in while in Ithaca will also work to help expand the level of awareness within the target audience towards the benefit. So far, the benefit has been scheduled for November 10th from 7-10 p.m. at the Carriage House Café in Ithaca, NY. Also joining the benefit committee are coordinator Emily MacDowell and CORAfrica’s new intern, Liana Thomas. Liana Thomas recently graduated from SUNY New Paltz with a degree in International Relations and Spanish. She has experience in fundraising, event planning, and phone-a-thons. We feel she will make a great contribution to the CORAfrica team and I would personally like to welcome her to our organization.

At the dinner, the head of CORAfrica’s US office, Dr. Derek Cabrera, and US coordinator, Emily MacDowell, each gave their updates of our major strides so far. We are contacting the following agencies for assistance: IREX for a small grant to train would-be instructors in vocational education, the Global Fund for Children for a take-off grant for our Nigerian office, Ambassadors Special-Help Project for a borehole and Water tank at Ipong where our Community Education Center will be located, Ford Foundation for assistance on the micro-credit scheme at Ipong, The Rockefeller Foundation for assistance for a similar project in Mbube, Hewlett Grant focusing on improving instruction for our 5x5x5 proposal, The IBM Grant inquiry letter to integrate IBM technology in our rural schools, and the American Express Member Project to support the Community Education Center (CEC) project in Ipong Obudu. Emily explained that most of the grants applied to have acknowledged receipt of our applications. We are already sourcing for more avenues to apply for grants especially in the area of buildings because most of the schools in our catchment area are in dilapidated states, while in other areas, there are no buildings existing to house the great number of children who seek education. Emily also gave an update of all those who have donated to us so far.

For most friends who were not opportune to meet at the Dryden location, we met at the Carey Farm in Groton, NY on Wednesday, June 6th, where our hosts Dan and Ann Carey together with Carolann Darling treated us to a sumptuous dinner and an evening of Questions and Answers about CORAfrica work. In an interactive after dinner forum initiated by Thomas and Judy Lickona of SUNY Cortland, I had an opportunity to update more friends of CORAfrica about my pastoral work in general and CORAfrica initiatives. With the help of a computerized slide show, those present were given a history of my strides right after the time I left the Groton area till date. I also shared my major challenges in my work as a priest and a grassroots developer working in rural Nigeria. Again my encounter with the youths of Groton, NY offered to me another opportunity to remind American youths of the enormous privileges they enjoy and the need for them to capture those opportunities for their benefits and for the improvement of humankind. The youths were full of excitements to hear about their counterparts in another country.

Youths of Groton, NY, pose with Fr Peter Abue during his recent visit to the US

In another development, I was invited to give a graduation speech for High School graduates at St. Fidelis High School in Butler, PA. I seized the opportunity to remind American youths of the opportunities they have to make a difference in the society at large. These are opportunities most youths in developing countries are deprived of. In comparing American youths with their counterparts in Nigeria, I reminded the youths that high school graduates in Nigeria, upon graduation, are not readily assured of entry into colleges or tertiary institutions. Some have to wait for several years, as there is always a keen competition in the admission requirements through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Many youths divert their pursuits to domestic activities, as they often never get admitted, while others waste away their talents in villages due to lack of incentives. For most youths, it is basically the lack of financial resources that militates against their willingness to pursue their cherished dreams of going to college. Of the entire numbers of high school graduates in Nigeria, only about 10% get opportunities to pursue college degrees immediately. I introduced CORAfrica as one organization that seeks to make a difference in the lives of young people in Nigeria by ensuring that the level of admission of high school graduates to colleges continues to improve.

CORAfrica also encourages exchange of youth programs between Nigerian Universities and Colleges in the US. Already there is a working collaboration between the State University of NY International programs and the Cross River State University in Nigeria to enable young people to experience cross-cultural exchanges that will enrich students on both sides of the globe.

- Peter Obele Abue