AFTER tearing up her French books following her GCSE exam, one pupil at St Gregory’s Catholic School realised there must be a better use for her old learning materials.
Following a bit of research, Year 11 student Eliza Oyo discovered Books2Africa, a Canterbury-based charity that sends donated tomes to institutions throughout the continent rather than have them being pulped or sent to landfill.
She took the idea to the school and with the support of her history teacher, Ruth Walker, organised a student and parent collection. The response was emphatic, with thousands of books filling more than 100 boxes of books collected over the final weeks of term.
Tonbridge Grammar School contributed another 90 boxes, which were put together and personally delivered to the charity’s depot by Eliza Oyo and Ms Walker.
Reflecting on the experience, Eliza said: “Even if only one person has a better future because of what we did today it will have been worth it.”
