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Our Sister School in Kumba, Cameroon, West Africa
The Eta College story began a number of years ago with a group of our senior students. They wanted to do something to contribute to their broader world and came up with the idea of collecting used books and shipping them to Africa to start a reading room in Kumba, Cameroon, home town of one of the founding partners of King’s College School.
Over the next two years, many books were collected. Funds were raised to ship the books, to rent space to store them, and to provide a salary to employ a teacher to run the reading room. Once the first shipment of books was sent, Kumba instantly had its first library open to the public!
It was just the beginning
The students of King’s College School were delighted with the difference they had made but, like so many wonderful things, this was just the beginning. The small seed that those first few students planted over 10 years ago has grown, thanks to many amazing people and, most especially, Mrs. Pat Long, an alumni parent, who founded Eta Colleges International, a Canadian registered charity.
An initiative that’s grown beyond books
Through Eta Colleges International, a school, Eta College, was built in Kumba, dedicated solely to the purpose of “raising African leaders to solve African problems”. What was just a few years ago a small, storefront reading room, evolved into a reading room and tutoring centre, and then to a very small school, and now to a brand-new, large school which features state-of-the-art labs and a library and will eventually be able to house up to 400 students.
The lab in Kumba school has already been called the best in any school in all of Cameroon, and much better than those in most universities.
All of us at King’s College School hope that those original students take with them for the rest of their lives the knowledge that, at a very young age, they have already made a magnificent difference. The lesson we all need to take way is to plant seeds: you never know how many other wonderful people will come along to water them and help make them grow into something truly inspiring.
For more information on Eta College and/or to get involved please visit the foundation website.