Bill presents a copy of his biography of St Francis of Assisi to lay church leaders in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. To the left is Jacob Surface, a US diplomat and former student of Bill’s, who arranged for Bill’s visit there.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
The island of Bougainville, site of furious fighting during World War II, has been devastated by the closing of the one source of employment, a large copper mine. Schools and the students who attend them are largely without books, including basic textbooks. School is taught in English there, so sending books of all kinds will be a great help to the children. Because one of my former students works with local community groups, we can distribute books there. We already have children at various schools collecting books. We need to get them to Washington, and that requires funds for shipping them.
Update:
We received about 1000 books, primarily from Irondequoit High School in Rochester, NY and Naples Central School in Naples, NY which were sent to schools, churches, and community libraries on the island of Bougainville. A State Department diplomat told me that when he gave a single book to a child there, the parents cried with joy. There should be a lot of good tears when our shipment of books arrives.
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