School donations, clothing from N.L. to Nigeria unpacked after months of waiting
The bus arrived in October but wasn't unpacked until recently
The yellow bus that could has finally been unpacked and distributed to the people in northeastern Nigeria after laying in wait for months after its initial arrival in October.
Donations of books, clothes, toys and even the bus itself were gathered from across Newfoundland and Labrador as part of an effort set up by Zaineb Jerrett, who is the volunteer president of the the We Care Foundation.
"They're very happy. The parents are very happy. So many schools have benefited, so many children, men and women," Jerrett said Thursday morning in an interview with the St. John's Morning Show.
"I feel it's a responsibility because look at me here. I am happy, I am healthy, I am safe with so much support around me."
A general election in Nigeria in the fall of 2018 triggered increased activity by Boko Haram, the Islamic State in West Africa, forcing the bus to be hidden until after the election or risk its contents being confiscated, according to Jerrett.
First pair of shoes
Terry Parsons is responsible for donating the bus to Jerrett and the We Care Foundation.
Jerrett came looking to purchase a bus for her campaign, but Parsons, who owns Parsons and Sons Transportation Ltd, gave it as a donation instead.
When pictures started coming back from Nigeria as the bus and its donations were unloaded, Parsons remembers a pair of shoes in particular that he said really made a difference. A single mom had dropped off three bags of clothes her kids had outgrown during a donation run in Conception Bay South.
"She talked about the fact that she didn't have much, but this is what she had, it was the stuff she could no longer hand down," Parsons said.
"And one of the photos that was sent to me is of one of the children in Africa wearing the shoes, I recognized the shoes. So, here's something that in Newfoundland was castoffs, it was worthless, but to that little boy it was the first pair of shoes he ever owned."
With files from the St. John's Morning Show