USA-based NGO Donates Digital Library to 12 Schools in South West

 

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Goke Oyedeji Humanitarian Outreach (GOHO) of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) First in the Americas, Brooklyn, NY, has donated a digital library to 12 secondary schools in the southwest.

GOHO, in partnership with the United States Africa Children Fellowship (US-ACF), organized a three-day training program titled Digital Library Project, The Bridge PI, for teachers of the benefitting schools how to handle and use the digital library to teach the students.

The training that took place at the University of Ibadan Conference Center was attended by Dr Posi Olawumi, Dr Mrs Arinade Elegbe, cousin and niece to late Pastor Oyedeji as well as and an official of the Ministry of Education, Osun State, Mrs Kolawole.

GOHO team were made up of Dr Pastor Gbenga Famojuro, Executive Director; Evangelist Mrs Olufunke Obadina, Secretary; Evangelist Dr Patrick Awosogba, Project Coordinator; Evangelist Olusegun Fashusi, Secretary, CAC 1st in the Americas and Bob Rollins, US-ACF (GOHO partner).

The benefitting schools are Doherty Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Ijero-Ekiti, Esa Oke Grammar School, Christ High School, Ibadan, Abolarin College, Oke-Ila Orangun, Monarch International, Gbogan, and Community Olua Grammar School Igbara Oke.

The rest are Ajuta High School Ogbaji Akoko, Ibokun Grammar School, CAC All Saints Chapel, Ibadan, Bishop Falope Memorial Grammar School, Ilesha, Eko Boys High School, Lagos and CAC Grammar School, Ibadan.

Each of the 12 schools was provided with 14 Tablets, 14 earphones, one power bank, one AC Cord Cana kit, one Pi, one On/Off switch and one black cable.

In his opening remarks, Pastor Dr Gbenga Famojuro, DCC Superintendent and Assembly Pastor, said CAC (1st in the Americas) founded GOHO in memory of the first pastor of the Church, Pastor Oyedeji.

He said the NGO started with a Food pantry headed by Deacon Tunde Thomas, where indigent families were fed every week, adding that over 500,000 families were fed in New York in 2023.

According to Pastor Famojuro, apart from the food pantry, the Foundation has other areas of humanitarian outreach such as Education and Health.

He added that in 2019, the Foundation donated 75,000 books to 25 secondary schools in the southwest, while it has also donated medical and hospital equipment to CAC maternity in Ede, Osun State.

Famojuro described education as one of the tripod stands that hold the future of the country, saying that was the reason the Foundation stakeholders and the benefitting schools were working.

He appealed to the trainees to take the training program very seriously and take proper care of the items that will be given to them at the end of the program.

It was not only the GOHO team and those who contributed to this project that contributed; you, too, made a contribution, and your coming here is a lot of contribution. I pray that it will not be wasted.

Each pack of the digital library that will be given to you cost over N5 million, it will be a wasted exercise if the items are not put to good use, he said.

The pastor added that the benefitting schools have liaison persons that will interface with the school and the official of the foundation, advising them to work with their respective liaison person who will in turn connect with Dr Awosogba, GOHO director in case of any glitch.

We don’t pray that you suffer any glitches, but if there are any, GOHO will support you in rectifying the glitch.

We don’t want the items to disappear, don’t allow this to happen; we also appeal to you to properly keep and handle the items.

I want to assure you that if this programme is highly successful and the stakeholders visit your school any time and find the materials in good use, this will encourage us to do more for other schools.

I am therefore soliciting your cooperation, your support, and your sincere partnership so that this program will not die. Our efforts shall not be wasted, and our partnership will be fruitful and enduring, Famojuro said.

The executive director wished the participants a successful and impactful training program that will eventually have positive impacts on the lives of students in their respective schools.

Mr Rolins of the US-ACF that partnered with GOHO, who is also the Resource person, said the Bridge project started in 2016 by donating books to school libraries.

He added that the Bridge project aims to provide access to education, strengthen young minds, and bring education to children during the global lockdown in 2019.

Rolins described Bridge Pi as a versatile learning method from a sampling of ways that educators are using in other countries.

He said the digital library contains the modules loaded on the Bridge Pi, and it is also possible to add materials to it through Open Education Resource (OPR).

The resource person told the participants that the Bridge Pi can be connected to tablets, phones and laptops, adding that the Pi can operate offline through the intranet and not the internet.

One of the participants, Miss Juliet Mustapha, an English teacher from CAC Grammar School, Oleyo Ibadan, thanked GOHO for the opportunity to be part of the program and promised that she would start using the digital library as soon as she got back to school.

She also promised to seek the permission of the school Principal to train other subject teachers in the use of the library so that many students can benefit from it.

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