Book drive for South Sudan students

5/06/2020
St John Fisher College, Bracken Ridge

​Year 11 students Helen Frith and Eliza Innes with some of the 1600 books the
college community collected for students in South Sudan

STUDENTS at St John Fisher College, Bracken Ridge, have collected more than 1600 books during May to donate to impoverished schools in South Sudan.
The books were presented to representatives of One in Four Children, whose aim was to supply one million books over the next five years.

They wanted to build the book collection to service newly built schools in South Sudan.
One in Four Children founder Stephen Kumal said the college's generous contribution would go a long way to helping reach their 30, 000 target for their next shipment.  
Currently they are 10,000 books short.
“With St John Fisher's contribution and global citizenship, we are laying the foundation of tomorrow's dreams today and to that we express our unending gratitude," Stephen said.
The 30 plus years of civil war has been devastating for students in South Sudan and, as a result, one in three children were illiterate. 
In the Nuba Mountains, an area the size of Queensland, more than 100 schools were flattened by targeted bombing campaigns in 2015.
Many classrooms are conducted under trees or in dilapidated classrooms. 
Around 90 per cent of the current 265 schools lacked basic school materials and students had no access to books. 
In response to this, One in Four Children launched their one million books campaign in January and set up three public libraries in the next five years.
St John Fisher College librarian, Kylie O'Brien said they asked the community to go through their own personal book collections and donate books they no longer needed to the library. 
Ms O'Brien said she was overwhelmed by the response and generosity of the students, staff and parents, many of whom purchased new books to support the cause.

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