Earlier this summer, when the Clarke family of Downingtown arrived in Luwero, Uganda, as ambassadors for the nonprofit organization Teach the Children, it had a lofty goal in mind.
The Clarkes – Stewart and Kellianne and their four children (Violet, Sawyer, Owen, and Averi) who range in age from 8-15 – aimed to build a library at the Ntumwa Primary School, and fill its shelves with thousands of books.
In just two weeks.
Upon arriving at their destination in the impoverished East African nation, the Clarkes were greeted with nothing more than a foundation, but left after a ribbon-cutting officially marked the library’s grand opening.
The mission was indeed accomplished.
“The overall value of the trip for my children can’t be measured,” said Kellianne. “They learned that the things we (mankind) have in common are way more than the things that may divide us. They learned that things or ‘stuff’ don’t make you happy – you find happiness in service, in activity, in love.”
Kellianne described the trip not just as a two-week trip of a lifetime, but “a year-long gift of planning, preparing, raising money, and reaching out to family and friends. It was even filled with the generosity of strangers.”
Kellianne’s sister and brother-in-law, Texas residents Heather and Dickson Senkunda, founded Teach the Children in 2007 as a way to give the children of Uganda, where Dickson once emigrated from, the opportunity to receive a quality education.
“Our work began in earnest when we took the one-hour drive from Kampala (Uganda’s capital),” said Kellianne. “We saw the foundation of the library that had already been prepared. It looked startling because it was essentially a dirt pad encased in a perimeter of bricks.”
With no time to spare, the Clarkes immediately began construction. Tools were scarce and primitive.
Stewart, the Vice President of Procurement at Siemens Healthcare in Malvern, along with Averi, Owen, Sawyer, and Violet, started to move bricks from the far side of the compound closer to the foundation, so they could begin using them to build the walls.
“One of my favorite memories was seeing the school children help to make this library their own reality,” said Kellianne. “They were spread in a line of more than 100 children, handing hundreds of bricks from hand to hand in assembly-line fashion.”
During their breaks, the Clarkes spent time in the school’s classrooms, as 8-year-old Violet enjoyed reading to classes of children her age. Owen made a friend who later passed him a note that said: “Thank you for coming. You are cool.” Averi taught children to dance to the chorus of Macarena. Sawyer had the most fun on the open field with the kids, throwing footballs, kicking soccer balls, and catching balls with Velcro mitts, all of which were donations from Americans.
“Each day passed, and we’d fall into bed and drag ourselves out the next morning, eager to see how much we could get done in the new day,” said Kellianne.
By the end of the Clarkes’ trip, the library had a roof, door, windows, shelves full of books, and newly constructed desks and benches.
In addition to the time her family spent in Uganda, Kellianne will always remember a serendipitous encounter she had with a woman in the Exton Barnes & Noble before embarking on her unforgettable journey.
“I was searching for books with some specific parameters – they had to have African-looking faces in them and be relatable to children who had virtually nothing in the way of earthly possessions – when I met this woman,” she said. “I was sort of just wandering, finding nothing that really spoke to me, when she asked if she could help.
“I explained my project and was overwhelmed when she said she had a Master’s Degree in African-American Literature. She gave me some great suggestions, and then proceeded to walk me to the counter, where she purchased several books and donated them directly to me.
“There are good people everywhere.”
Six of them reside in Downingtown and traveled to Uganda this summer to spread that very message.
