Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy Samoa
Today Aele Primary School was presented with 25 boxes of reading, math, and science textbooks, marking the first donation of the U.S. Embassy’s ‘Faitau = Atamai’ book drive. Together with the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture, the Rotary Club of Apia, and Peace Corps, over a dozen schools around the country will receive a similar-sized donation of learning materials. This program was spearheaded by the Ambassador of the United States to New Zealand and Samoa, Mark Gilbert, and his wife Nancy, as a result of their first trip to Apia in 2015. The books came by way of a shipping container which housed over 400 boxes of reading, math, and science books which arrived in Apia from Brother’s Brother Foundation in Pittsburgh.
The objective of the book drive is to provide additional support for educators, families and students who need them the most. Embassy Apia is happy to be working in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, Rotary Club of Apia, and Peace Corps to ensure that the books reach the nation’s children quickly and efficiently. “We are grateful for our project partners in this endeavor. We thank the Ministry of Education for their support of this project in terms of getting the donation here to Samoa and identifying schools in need of textbooks. We thank the Rotary Club of Apia for their invaluable assistance in storing, sorting, and delivering all of these books to schools across the country, and thanks to our Peace Corps program, the end users, who will be helping teachers and students to utilize these resources in the classroom,” said U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Angelina Wilkinson.
