Southwestern College

Seven Southwestern College students and two professors in a history class on South Africa have raised more than $1,500 this semester to send books to South Africa. The funds will go toward the creation of a new library for South African school children.
           

The class is taught by Stephen Woodburn, associate professor of history, and Dawn Pleas-Bailey, vice president for student life. The course focused on the period of apartheid and afterward. Students read works by Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and others who survived apartheid and worked for reconciliation afterward. Guest speakers from South Africa and around the country have addressed the class.
The class also read Mark Mathabane’s memoir, “Kaffir Boy.”  Mathabane described the difficulty of getting an education and how scarce and precious books were. The gift of a book from a white family his grandmother worked for made a huge impact on him, Mathabane wrote.
            “When we planned the course, we knew the subject matter would be depressing. We wanted students to be able to respond, to feel like they could do something to help,” Woodburn said.
            So the instructors chose to support the Books for Peace Library Project—South Africa, through Books for Africa (www.booksforafrica.org), which has a warehouse of donated books and just needs money to ship them.
            The students were assigned to learn about the project and then share that information with at least five people they asked for funds.
“It’s not a big part of their final grade, but we actually allowed them to buy their grade with the money they collected, up to 100 points. They all met that goal, so it just ends up being a completion grade,” said Woodburn. “There was an option to write a paper instead, but none chose to do so.” 
           
 “We also wanted the students to learn that philanthropy is hard work,” Pleas-Bailey said. “People can love your cause, but it’s tough to convince them to give up their money. You have to be persistent.”
            The student fundraisers are Laura Morgan, Kaydee Johnson, Amber Nubine, Brittanee Berry, Amanda Salzman, and Rachel Muth. The top fundraiser was sophomore Genaye Domenico.
            The instructors also raised money to contribute.
“I had a bunch of designer shoes I had bought and hardly or never worn. So I had a shoe sale and donated the proceeds to the cause,” Pleas-Bailey said.
            The amount needed for the library is $3,200. The class raised almost half that amount. The public is invited to contribute to the project at the Books for Africa website through the “Donate Now” tab.