Area Teachers Look to Crowdfunding to Offer Education to Needy in Africa

A Morristown-area teacher is planning a trip across the globe to provide education to underprivileged children in a small African town.

Rita Costigan created a GoFundMe campaign in September asking for the public's support for a trip she intends to take with her sister and fellow educator Annie Welsh in July 2014 for a volunteer teaching service trip in Zambia. The two will join African Impact's Teaching and Education Community Outreach Project in the small rural town of Livingstone.

The duo, which bills itself as Rita and Annie, is asking for donations of any size to fund their project fees, school supply expenses and flight costs so that they can try to ensure that kids get the education they need. The schools in Zambia are under-resourced schools, she wrote, and the teacher volunteers will help with community uplift programs, including building initiatives, adult literacy clubs, after school activities and senior efforts.  

The campaign page lists a goal of $5,000 on the page. So far, $335 has been raised. And the trip is a go: Costigan told Patch she and Welsh recently received required vaccinations for the July journey.

"We will be at the teaching site for two weeks," Costigan said. "When we get there, we will be assigned a class to work with during the school day.  We will either be teaching assistants, where we will go into a classroom and help the main teacher with any lessons, group work or assignments they feel necessary.  The other option would be to take on a classroom of your own and teach material to students who may have missed many days or have needed to repeat a class." 

She added that evenings in Zambia will be spent working in the Livingstone community. 

"We could be doing things like construction projects, farming, running literacy groups or working in the old persons' home," Costigan explained. "Unfortunately, we will not know what our assignments are until closer to our leave date in July."

Consider helping the team of Rita and Annie this holiday season, and check out other area GoFundMe efforts that could use your assistance.