Professor Explores Service Options in Nigeria

August 07, 2008

Mid-August finds most students and faculty packing their bags for a return to campus, but Martin Institute Director Peter Ubertaccio and two Stonehill students are heading in a different direction entirely.

Ubertaccio, with Chris Tirrell '09 and Kathleen Stephan '10, depart August 11 for an 11-day visit to Aku, Nigeria, to explore ways that Stonehill students might help the remote village with needs as diverse as digging wells and teaching school.

The College is fulfilling a pledge it made in February to Dr. John Edoga and his wife, Delia, who visited the Martin Institute to tell more than 200 students about their African Youth Education and Community Development Project.

The Edogas, of Morristown, N.J., built a public library and community center, complete with 17,500 books and two computer labs, in Aku, Dr. Edoga's native village, in 2005.

Next, they hope to construct a secondary school, health center and wells in Aku, where villagers must walk three to seven miles a day to obtain water.

Accompanied by Delia Edoga and her son Che, Ubertaccio and the students will undertake a journey of 5,500 miles, flying from New York to London, then from London to Abuja, the Nigerian capital. From there, local guides will escort them on the five-hour drive to Aku.

Ubertaccio said he hopes to meet with local officials, teachers at a nearby university, and Catholic clergy to determine how Stonehill students can undertake future service learning projects that meet the needs of Aku. more...