It might be second-hand, but some lab equipment from a local college is finding new life.
St. Peter's College (SPC) in Muenster has donated some of their old laboratory equipment to a school in Tanzania.
Norman Duerr of Humboldt has been helping out St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Ussongo, Tanzania for several years. He helped raise funds to build a library, shipped 40,000 books to the school, and helped raise funds for the medical clinic in the village. Now Duerr is collecting equipment to set up a science lab at the school.
"It's thanks to our stakeholders' generosity that allowed us to upgrade our equipment that we have this equipment," said Rebecca Cross, special projects manager with SPC.
The donated equipment is still in good shape even though it is older, she explained. There is everything from textbooks to microscopes to prepared slides, and teaching notes. It will be used to set up a lab for chemistry, physics, and biology.
SPC is in the middle of renovations which includes new science labs and equipment for their students.
"It was wonderful to empty the space and find a use for the equipment," Cross said.
Duerr, who has been to Tanzania many times, was asked for lab supplies in 2009.
"There's about 700 students at the school and they didn't have a library or a lab," he explained. "Now they have a library and soon they will have a lab."
Now that Duerr has the supplies, he is working on a way to get them to the school.
He is in discussions with SaskTel to see if they will help through the 'We See You' program. A representative from SaskTel will be in Humboldt in March to discuss the project with the community and gauge the level of support for the project.
Duerr has been speaking at schools in the Humboldt area to raise awareness of the project and the problems facing students in Tanzania. Several schools have stepped up and raised funds for the Ussongo school.
While Duerr isn't looking for material donations at this time, money is always welcome and easier to ship to Tanzania.
Any cash donations will be used to build the lab, expand the dormitories, upgrade the washrooms, help pay the power bill, buy supplies for the medical clinic in the community, or start a garden to supply food to the school cafeteria.
"There are a number of projects that could benefit from help," Duerr said. "It's a community-run school and we want to help the community as well."
