LINKING STONEHILL AND NIGERIA

Power To Change The World
Two hundred Stonehill students filled the Martin Institute on Feb. 18 to hear Dr. John Edoga and his wife, Delia, challenge them to assist in a project to bring water and education to the village of Aku, Nigeria.

"I can't stress enough how much you, as Americans, have to offer the world," said Delia Edoga, a lawyer born in Panama. "I am here as an immigrant to tell you, you have no idea the power you have to change the world, to take a little bit of what you have and change the world." 

The Edogas, who live in Morristown, N.J., are founders of the African Youth Education and Community Development Foundation. In December 2005, they opened a public library in Aku, the native village of John Edoga, now a retired general and vascular surgeon.

Digging Wells, Building Schools
The foundation's next challenges, through its Aku Project, are to build a secondary school and bring water to the village by developing wells. In meeting those goals, they'd like help from Stonehill students, Delia Edoga explained.

She said the foundation would like to be able to bring three Stonehill students to Aku during a future spring break to help young people learn English and basic science and computer skills. Eventually, students from Aku might study at Stonehill as well, Edoga said.

"We are beginning what we hope will be a great relationship with Stonehill College," said Edoga. "We would like to bring the village of Aku to Stonehill and we would like to bring you to the village of Aku." 

Creating Aku-Stonehill Ties
Director Peter Ubertaccio said the Martin Institute is committed to working with the Aku Project and will seek grant opportunities that would allow Stonehill students to undertake a service learning project in the Nigerian village.

That prospect was exciting to Michelle Martin, 20, a junior in the pre-medical program. She was one of many students who filled out a brochure with her name, address and what she thought she could offer the Aku Project.

Martin said she would "definitely" like to take up the Edogas' challenge. "My specific interest, as a pre-medical student, is to serve other countries, so this is my thing," Martin explained.

Ubertaccio said he has a special connection to the Edogas. He knew them as a boy in New Jersey.

"They were my friends' parents," said Ubertaccio. "I was too young to appreciate then what a gift it is to know them and be a small part of their lives."

John Edoga spent his first 18 years in Aku, where his father opened the first free public school in all of Nigeria in 1944. When he was a child, Edoga said, education in Nigeria was exceptional. He was taught by Marist brothers in a school founded by missionaries.

Life changed after Nigeria achieved its independence in 1960 and a three-year civil war broke out in 1967. Schools and homes were destroyed. Today, in Aku, women and children walk three miles a day just to obtain the water they need for their households.

Library Represents Aku Pride
John Edoga said the library that his foundation built on 100 acres of land is a source of pride for Aku residents and a destination for young people throughout the region.

The library has 10,000 books for borrowing, 7,500 books in reference and two computer labs that may soon receive Internet access. For most, the computers are the first they have ever seen, Edoga said. When a mobile van brings children to the library, the children tell their parents, "We are spending the day in America."

Edoga said that as a child, he knew a lot about the United States because of the Peace Corps and U.S. Information Services. Even today, for Nigerian children, America is still "the last best hope," Edoga said.

His wife told Stonehill students, "There was a time we thought we could bring all the immigrants to the United States to study. Now we know there is no more room in the United States, so we have to ask you to help us to teach the people of Aku to help themselves."

Above all, Delia Edoga said, "Remember that you are Americans."

Issued 02/19/08