President, N.C. Chess Association
Several months ago, I received an email from Africa.
By Randy Wheeless
President, N.C. Chess
Association
Several months ago, I
received an email
from Africa.
At first, I thought it was
one of those “scam” emails I’ve gotten before … from someone in Africa
asking for help in moving $24 million from some overseas bank account. I was
about to hit the delete button when …
Wait a minute! This was
from Will Garneau – a Peace Corps volunteer, who said he used to live in
Durham. Now, he was teaching kids in the town of Otjituuo in the African nation
of Namibia.
In his letter, Will
explained that his school resources were scarce, but he did have two rather worn
chess sets in his classroom. As you might expect, the sets were getting quite a
workout from the kids. His request was simple – did we have any sets we could
send him?
The North Carolina State
Scholastic Championships had ended recently, so I asked Cathy Taggart at the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Scholastic Chess Association if she would give me 10 sets
to send to Africa. Cathy figured that no one was crazy enough to make up that
story, so soon I had my 10 sets.
Getting them to Africa was
a bit of a chore. I don’t know if you’ve checked postage and shipping to
Namibia lately – but it’s not cheap. To make matters worse, the U.S. Post
Office can’t really make any guarantees about the package ever getting there.
“Too late to turn back
now,” I thought. So my wife Anita (greatest packer of all-time) packaged the
sets one weekday and took them down to the post office. Off they went to
Namibia.
For the next few weeks, I
heard nothing. I started to think that African warlords were playing bughouse
with our sets. But finally I heard from Will. The sets had arrived.
“Thanks so much for a
donation that was really amazing,” he wrote. “It made the kids at Otjituuo
very happy. I have worked individually with the learners to help them develop
their skills. The sets have been borrowed every day I’ve been here. They are a
source of pride for the kids and are treated like ‘manna from heaven.’”
We need to remember that
there are a lot of kids like the ones in Will’s class – not only in Namibia,
but also in the towns right around us in North Carolina. Spreading our love of
chess to others should always be in the back of our minds. To be honest, my
effort was rather small – but it had a considerable impact on these African
youngsters and I felt good about it.
As we go
forward, I challenge you to make some small effort of your own. Look around.
Some small effort on your part could have an enormous effect on someone else’s
life.
Note: Will Garneau
continues to teach in Namibia today. You can drop him an email at will.garneau@gmail.com
 |
| Chess at school -- that's worth celebrating! |