Glorya Cho now raises funds for the ‘Future Island School’ in the African nation.

Glorya Cho volunteered at a school in the African nation of Ghana. But faced with no books and no running water, she questioned what help she could be.

“I realized at the end (of my stay) my role was to rally resources,” the University of Washington sophomore said. “Even though I don’t have $42,500, I know other people have that money. I think it’s about making the connection” to get outside help.

A 2003 graduate of Bainbridge High School, Cho went to Offinso, Ghana as a volunteer, curious about Africa, a continent that she had not studied much while a student.

“I found it’s not just people sitting around waiting for help,” Cho said. “They’re doing so much to help themselves, but they weren’t able to break the cycle of poverty and that’s where the outside can help.”

Inspired by her trip, she and friends Gena Kim, Jinyoung Lee and Kelly Ohlde Pfundheller, are now raising funds for the Future Island School in Offinso.

Their goal is $42,500, a sum that will buy three acres of land and a school building to serve 480 students, and establish an endowment of $2,500 to pay for teacher salaries, school uniforms and scholarships.

Cho felt overwhelmed by the number of things the school needed, from basic sanitation like running water and toilets, to books and lesson plans, and tutoring for students far behind the class.

Currently, school is housed in the shell of a residence that was being built until the owners ran out of money. Cho saw students play outside in the dirt then eat lunch with their hands and drink from barrels, scooping water out with communal cups.

Many Ghana children do not attend public schools, because they are required to wear costly uniforms, which most parents can’t afford. Where a school lunch is about 20 cents, $6 for a school uniform is expensive.

At FIS, less than half the students pay the $12 annual tuition – which is still less than that of public schools – and uniforms are requested but not required. And students who can’t afford the 20 cents for lunch are still fed; some arrive in the morning not having eaten breakfast.

“A school is so wonderful because it’s planting a seed in the community. It’s going to be there forever,” Cho said. “Education is the only means to real empowerment. It’s going to open up a lot of doors.”

The school does more than educate the kids, ages 1½ to 10, eight hours a day on weekdays; it also enables their parents to work, begin an apprenticeship or sell vegetables at the market.

Offinso is a town in central Ghana of about 3,000-5,000, by Cho’s estimates. There is no Internet, and telephone access is at a central communication center.

School founders Kwabena Amponsah Ababio and his wife Beatrice Addae share a yard with two other families where there is a source of running water. Ababio also teaches middle school in the nearby city of Kumasi and stretches his income to support his family of two children and four orphans, as well as FIS.

Since it was founded with six students in October 2003, the school has grown to more than 300 students and a staff of eight.

The couple opened the school so more children could get an education, believing that each child is an “island” that society will turn to in the future. Their long-term plans include an orphanage and an HIV/AIDS education center.

On May 16, Cho and friends organized a benefit concert at UW, bringing their total funds to over $4,000.

Until she and Pfundheller leave in August to spend their fall semester in Ghana, Cho says they will focus on grant-writing and soliciting donations through their connections

“Even just four weeks there, I feel forever changed. Especially for people like me in college, we have so much potential,” Cho said. “We have to live more consciously of the world in general.

“I feel that as people so privileged, we have a responsibility to those who are underprivileged. I don’t think that’s debatable.”