LEWISTON – When Nick Zolas visited African villages last winter, he was surprised by how often children asked for pens, items that are often thrown out by U.S. schools when lockers are cleaned.
“It was amazing how widespread it was,” Zolas said. “Everywhere I went, kids asked for pens. They’d come up and sing, or try to talk to me in broken English, saying Pens, pens, pens.'”
He gave out nearly 500 and learned not to give away pens when the number of children outnumbered the pens in his pocket. If some didn’t get pens, there’d be arguing.
That experience led Zolas to embark on a new mission: Getting school supplies to African schools and recruiting other pen pals’ for Africa.
He’s formed a nonprofit organization, Supplies for Africa, has set up a Web site and is hoping schools and others will donate pens, notebooks and cash.
Next Tuesday, Zolas will leave for his second trip to Africa.
He’ll spend two months pedaling his bike through the southeastern country of Malawi. There he’ll meet with Ministry of Education officials and set up contacts at schools to receive supplies.
Zolas, 25, grew up in Brunswick. After graduating from college with an economics degree, he worked for two years as an investment banker in New York City. In January, he pursued his dream of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. After that, he spent another five weeks exploring southeastern African villages.
“Everyone was exceedingly friendly,” he said. “The kids would grab your hand and want to walk with you. They’d want to play.”
Zolas was struck by the high number of children. Many are orphans who lost their parents to AIDS, he said.
Simple schools
During his first visit to Africa, Zolas talked with villagers and visited homes and schools. The schools are simple, with big chalkboards and no electricity. Classes have 60 to 200 students, who are packed tightly into desks. Each class shares one or two textbooks. Students copy and memorize what the teacher writes on the chalkboard.
Pens and paper are precious.
“They have so little resources to buy a pen, which isn’t cheap for them,” Zolas said. “Just having that access to write, draw and be creative is huge.”
After returning home in March, he thought about the kids he met in Africa. “I thought there must be some way to help with the whole pen thing.”
When school lockers are cleaned each summer, “all these school supplies are thrown away, tons of paper and pens. Things that are really useful are being wasted.”
In April, he founded Supplies for Africa. The group hopes to raise $5,000 by January. So far, they’ve raised $1,500. In the fall Zolas hopes to begin relationships with schools interested in donating supplies to African students.
Right now, he’s packing.
Because he’s biking through Malawi, Zolas is limited to how many pens he can give away this time. “I’ll bring between 300 and 500.”
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