North Shore High School Students Donate to Zambian Orphanage

Over the past few months, North Shore High School International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme seniors Dhruv Gandhi, Aiden Mandell, and Oliver Palone organized a collection of items including clothing, toys, sports equipment, and books to send to the Project Nyame Nsa orphanage in Zambia for their CAS project. The donations will support both children and adults in need. In partnership for a great cause, the goal was to get as many clothes and toys as possible. In the end, the students received much more than they expected, due to faculty donations and local pickups that they offered.

Last year, Oliver fundraised to support building of infrastructures in a small Ghanian village. He has been a Youth Ambassador for Project Nyame Nsa for about 6 years and has personally raised over $20,000 for this non-profit organization. The Village of Hope in Ghana was opened in 2016, and the Village of Joy will open this summer. In the time working on this project, Oliver had seen photos of the local orphanage, and felt compelled to do more. This year, he partnered up with his friends Dhruv and Aiden to make an even bigger impact, and all three students used this project for the IB CAS project. A CAS project is a sustained initiative by a student that incorporates at least two of the three program components: Creativity, Action, or Service. This particular project incorporates Creativity through publicity, Action in the sorting and transport, and Service in the goal and mission. 

As collections began in mid-December and continued into the New Year, our community was able to donate an overwhelming amount of goods to support those in need. Books, clothing, supplies were collected in the North Shore High School Cafeteria, as well as through local pickups. The three students were happy to go through their closets and help others by donating; the students wore masks while organizing donations. Aiden and Dhruv said, “We were happy to sort through our clothes that we don’t wear, so that we could donate; it’s great to know we’re going to make a difference. It’s important to help our organizations with causes that could be overlooked.” After speaking with Oliver and learning about the children in need, they wanted to help. They said, “After hearing about the students that don’t have their basic needs, we realized how important it is and how we take it for granted”. 

In the coming weeks, the students will be collaborating and coordinating with Manhasset-based Project Nyame Nsa founder, in order to ensure that their collections are delivered to the orphanage in Zambia. To learn more, go to https://projectnyamensa.org/ or https://ibo.org/ 

Article written by Kerri Titone, Ed.D.