Mayo schools’ donations bring new opportunities to students in Ghana

A forty-foot container packed with schoolbooks and furniture started the long journey from Mayo to Ghana this week. 

The Schoolbooks and Furniture for Ghana campaign was an initiative of the Environment Office of Mayo County Council in partnership with the charity Crosscause. 

The campaign was initiated by Mayo County Council to offer a sustainable solution to schools that had old schoolbooks and furniture to dispose of. The materials, which were collected from 60 Mayo schools, will be distributed for reuse to schools in Ghana, giving 100’s of children better educational opportunities.

Sharon Cameron, Environment Awareness Officer with Mayo County Council, thanked all who supported the project: “This has been a hugely challenging but rewarding campaign, and we were delighted to partner with Crosscause Charity on this project. In our work with schools, we saw that there were lots of schoolbooks that were no longer needed due to changes in the school curriculum, and also lots of really good furniture suitable for reuse.

“We knew from Crosscause that schools in Ghana had very little materials for their classrooms. My colleagues in the Environment Office and throughout the Council came on board to help collect donations, and the team at Derrinumera Civic Amenity Centre were instrumental in providing assistance, and storage for the items until we were ready to ship them; we are so grateful to all the schools who donated items.”

The campaign operated in partnership with Crosscause Charity, an Irish-registered charity dedicated to supporting vulnerable communities in Eastern Europe and West Africa.

Conor Hughes of Crosscause welcomed the partnership with Mayo County Council: “Crosscause is very thankful to Mayo County Council for taking the lead on this initiative. Our hope is that this collaboration will inspire other Counties to join this very positive project. Crosscause can assure all involved that the books, chairs, and tables will be cherished again in their new life in the schools of Ghana.”

The Campaign ended with a day of action - ‘The Meitheal for Ghana’, Mayo County Council staff joined with Crosscause volunteers to fill all collected items into the container.

The Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Sean Carey, attended the event to offer his support of the campaign and acknowledged all the work that had been done to collect all the donated items.

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Speaking at the event, Sharon Cameron expressed her gratitude to everyone who contributed to the success of the project. She extended special thanks to Brian Cunningham Transport Ltd for moving the container from Mayo to Dublin, Hazelhill Timber Products for supplying pallets, and Elverys Sports for providing the essential boxes used to pack and ship the schoolbooks.

She also praised the volunteers from Castlebar Tidy Towns for their invaluable assistance with the local campaign in Castlebar.

The container, packed tightly with thousands of books along with hundreds of school chairs and tables, was weighed before beginning its long journey to Ghana, with a total of 21,000 kilograms of donated items leaving Mayo.