Educational supplies sent from Scotland are unloaded after arrival in Liberia.

The latest shipment of surplus educational materials organised by Bute resident and former island teacher David Hanschell has reached its destination.

David’s Surplus Educational Supplies Foundation (SESF) sent a 40-foot container from Scotland to the Liberian capital of Monrovia just before Christmas - and David, who lives in Rothesay, received confirmation this week that the unloading process had been completed.

Bute resident and former teacher David Hanschell is set to hit the road to raise awareness of his efforts to send surplus educational material from Scotland to communities hit by poverty and natural disaster in Africa and the Caribbean.

David, who li is the man behind the Surplus Educational Supplies Foundation, which has sent educational equipment to Grenada, Nicaragua, Tanzania and Liberia over the last seven years.

Now he plans to spread the word about the Foundation’s work on a sponsored cycle around the schools of Arran and Argyll and Bute.

“I’m going to try to cycle from Wemyss Bay to Ardrossan, catch the ferry to Arran and talk to the school pupils there, go to Kintyre to visit Campbeltown Grammar and then cycle to the joint campus in Lochgilphead,” David told The Buteman.

“I’ve never done this sort of thing before, but the community on Bute has always been very generous in its support for what the Foundation has done and I’d be grateful for any sponsorship from the island.”

Grenada a little background. 1492 Christopher Columbus. Conception. Colonisation by the French. A turbulent history. Sugar ,Cocoa and Coffee. Slavery. A place for Poor Whites.Deracination, miscegenation and  stratification. Scots and English plantocracy. The legacy and cost of colonialism. Absentee landlords and landlordism An ill- divided society. Independence, Revolution and Invasion. An island of heartbreak and happiness. Racial mix and cultural pot pourri.Frustrated ambition and unrealised potential for the majority. The fortunate few emigrate and succeed.

The tourism brochure image of illusion. Fleeting visits and superficial appreciation of a rapidly  diminishing tropical paradise. Cruise ships in and out of St George’s harbour. An air –conditioned  bus tour roun’ de island; and return to comfort, safety and the prospect of further opportunity.

My preferences:- Rain Forest Multiculture. Fruits and fishing .if I don’t get a migraine from the Tropical glare, it’s my ideal  island; if  only I could reverse the tide of history and at a stroke ,and  repair the damage done to so many and on so many levels.

Dear David,
How are you? I hope you and SESF are doing well. I am really sorry that I have not been in touch in a very long time. As I went back to uni for 3rd year I realised that I literally didn't have a spare day, not even on the weekends, realising this I knew I wouldn't be able to help you in the way you had hoped, I just didn't any spare time to dedicate to you and SESF but I always thought maybe I will so I kept leaving it. I am really sorry.
As for the boxed that SESF transported over to Tanzania, they were not given out to local projects until I arrived there this summer.  They had been kept in the nursery school waiting for me to come back, even though I had told them to give them to certain schools.

Dear David,

I want to firstly register sincere apology for the delay on our part in sending you the attached official letter of request. My return to Liberia after a long year away met so many changes and challenges that I am still dealing with. However, all is going well as per our discussion/plan for SESF to form part of the rebuilding process of Liberia, we will remain committed. Also, kindly permit me through this medium to extend heartfelt thanks and appreciation to you for tentatively purchasing a 40' highcube MSCU 8000154-5 container which was inspected and given a valid CSC plate CSC NOF BV 7535-00.