Trying to give back(packs) to Africa
Okotoks: Foothills Composite has already raised thousands for orphanage
A Foothills Composite School fundraiser to help students in Africa has had a temporary setback, but it isn’t about to stop a teacher determined to get school supplies to orphans in Tanzania.
Drama teacher Jody Swift is make a difference by somehow getting approximately 20 backpacks filled with supplies to the East African country.
Swift was inspired by the efforts of 2008 Foothills Composite graduate Chelsea Jones, who had gone to Africa with a church group as a youth.
Jones returned to Africa in 2010.
“I wanted to go back to Africa because that is where my heart is,” Jones said. “I was able to find a small NGO in Tanzania called Make A Difference Now who found an orphanage they wanted to work with and they sponsored kids to go to school.”
When she returned to Canada, she ran into her former teacher Swift.
“I had watched two movies back-to-back about the plight of Africa and then I ran into Chelsea at a social setting and I said to myself: ‘Is this a sign?’” Swift said. “So I went back to our school staff and proposed for one year we adopt the orphanage.”
The Foothills Comp student body jumped on board. A Halloween Haunted House fundraiser collected $500 for the orphans’ school.
At Christmas, Swift decided to hold a backpack campaign for the orphans.
“Each of the kids at the orphanage were asked to make a wish list and the items they wanted were really precious,” Swift said. “It wasn’t like they were asking for toys or video games. It was like: ‘I want a toothbrush’ or ‘I want shoes’ or ‘I want a shirt.’”
The school was able to fill 23 new backpacks for the 22 students.
Swift’s husband vetoed buying Christmas gifts last year for his wife. Instead he raised approximately $3,000 for the orphanage.
“It was the most beautiful gift I ever received,” Swift said.
Foothills Comp students were also able to raise funds for the orphanage/school through a one-act play festival at the Okotoks school.
Meanwhile, the backpacks, which are packed in three hockey bags, are still in Alberta.
The cost of transporting the bags to Africa has put things on hold.
Swift said while she understands airlines get inundated with charity requests, she admits it’s frustrating to still have the backpacks at her home.
“We had one student who spent her entire paycheque to a backpack,” Swift said. “She has asked me: ‘Are they there yet?’ and I had to tell her ‘I’m trying but they aren’t there yet.”
She said she contemplated going to the airport and asking people who were flying to Africa to take a backpack with them as carry-on luggage and then somehow getting them to the orphans.
Swift nixed the idea when she realized airport security would rightfully frown on the idea.
However, a recent Foothills grad, Hayley Lepa, is planning to go to Africa to work at the orphanage and the school.
“I would love to take the backpacks with me,” Lepa said.
Swift said they are continuing to raise funds to get the backpacks to Tanzania. Any other funds would be used to help Lepa with her charity trip.
Anyone wishing to help with the donation may contact Swift at 403-933-3297.
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