Republic of Benin schools become the foundation for re-building communities

The Women in the NAACP (WIN), a division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), traveled to Africa to officially open a new grade school in the Republic of Benin. The school represents the first phase of WIN’s international project to build schools in Benin, a major NAACP effort to help Africans build a stronger community and enhance educational opportunities for their children.

Thelma T. Daley, NAACP National WIN Director, said: “This international effort impacted a community that has been void of any educational institution within a radius of 15 miles. This humble effort now allows children in the elementary grades to attend school within their village and not be endangered by walking miles each morning to receive a basic fundamental education.”

During the visit to Benin last month, Daley along with NAACP National Director of Education John Jackson and two WIN members, Sheila Butler and Norma Sermon-Boyd, were distinguished guests at the International Gospel & Roots Festival. The festival showcased reunions with Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and America, providing an international backdrop that highlighted the inauguration ceremony for the NAACP school in the Yawa Village.

Benin Ambassador Cyrille S. Oguin, said: “I don't know if WIN measures its own value the impact of their action in Yawa. The school not only fills a gap which has been there too long, but above all it appears as the cement of unity and the symbol of reconciliation between the people of Yawa who need it so strongly; many thanks to you all.”

Benin was the major slave port in the triangular slave market with Liverpool, England and Richmond, Va. Director General Simon-Pierre Adovelande, of the Benin Agency for Reconciliation and Development, views the NAACP partnership as a key development initiative to assist in rectifying the residual effects of slavery.

As Benin unveiled its reconciliation monument acknowledging and forgiving the past in reference to slavery, WIN’s educational effort underscored the NAACP’s mission in carrying civil and human rights across the Atlantic Ocean.

After attending a NAACP town hall meeting in Atlanta, Daley encouraged WIN members to donate money to execute a vision to build a school in Africa. The first phase of this vision has now been realized and a second school is near completion in the Benin village of Hetin.

Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities and monitor equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.