Group promotes education abroad

The world is an unfair place. No-one recognizes that more than sophomore Richard Skelton, who was inspired by a Uganda summer trip to establish a chapter of Ugandan charity Building Tomorrow (BT) at Hopkins this past summer.

"BT at Hopkins just got started over this last summer; it was inspired by a trip I took to Uganda with a group of students from my high school which was organized by Building Tomorrow," Skelton wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter. "I'd say the need for such an organization has always been there; there has always been a striking number of children in Uganda without access to at least a primary education. It's just a matter of when I realized that I should do something about it."

Building Tomorrow is an international organization that provides children in poorer countries the opportunity to gain access to better education—or education at all—when they would, otherwise, have few opportunities to gain academic knowledge.

The organization provides villages in Sub-Saharan Africa with the construction materials needed to build a BT academy in exchange for the volunteer services and land required for construction.

Each of these academies has enough room for over 300 students (grades one through seven), as well as facilities such as bathrooms and libraries. The organization is currently focusing on Uganda.

Skelton notes that nearly 40 million students in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to a formal education, so BT academies are invaluable resources for the villages that BT serves.

"The club's purpose is to raise money and awareness for primary education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The more we can do to help, the better," Skelton wrote. "Our goal is to build a school for 400 students, which won't fix the entire continent immediately. One school at a time, I suppose."

BT was founded in 2004 when George Srour, the project's Executive Director, returned to the College of William and Mary from Uganda; Srour recognized the need for better education in the country and had a solution in the works. By December of that year, the college raised about $45,000, which was enough to construct a new school in Kampla, Uganda, and laid the groundwork for Building Tomorrow.

Currently, nearly 20 colleges that have BT chapters on their campus, such as Duke University, Davidson College, Notre Dame and Wake Forest University.

Some programs that have been implemented in BT chapters nationwide include Bike to Uganda, where students ride a stationary bike a distance equivalent from their college campus to Uganda, and Sit for Good, where students spread awareness of the lifestyle in the villages BT aids by sitting on the floor during their classes for a day.

These events have raised over $55,000 all across the country. BT also offers service trips to Uganda, which allow students to work first hand with poverty.

As a new organization on the Homewood campus, BT is making progress to contribute both to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Hopkins community. With a couple of Breezeway events and more plans for the future, BT at Hopkins has already raised some money for the cause and insists that it is not too late to join the effort.

"So far we have been pretty successful as a fledgling organization," Skelton wrote. "Our goal is to have a lot of fun things going on soon! Literally any little bit helps, and there is definitely a lot that needs to be helped."

For more information on Building Tomorrow, email jhu@buildingtomorrow.org and visit the group's Facebook page.