Our Story
We all attended Cornelia Connelly College, a secondary school (Grades 7-12) established in 1949 by Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus (a New York-based order) to serve as the premier school for girls in Eastern Nigeria. For decades, the Catholic Church ran the school and successfully graduated women who went on to excel in all areas of life in and outside Nigeria. In the mid-70s the Nigerian government took over all parochial schools in the country and converted them to public schools. Though some of the nuns remained as teaching staff in CCC, there began a gradual decline in the infrastructural, moral and academic standards of the school that made the school virtually unrecognizable by the turn of the century.
A few years ago, some CCC alumni around the world who visited the school raised alarm, sought out each other and began to help individually and collectively. Believing that we could do much more as an organization, four Cornelians from Arizona, Florida and Georgia (Dr. Patience Akpan-Obong, Ms. Amaku Bassey, Ms. Cecilia Udom and Ms. Usoro Noah) met in Atlanta in July 2014 to begin a conversation about the condition of the school. About two months after that initial meeting, Dr. Akpan-Obong learned of the existence of another group of Cornelians in United States and she contacted two of the members, Ms. Regina Ette (who was the president at the time) and Ms. Mfon Ekpo (who was the treasurer). After speaking with Ms. Ette and Ms. Ekpo, Dr. Akpan-Obong then contacted the other members of the “Atlanta Four” who were quite enthusiastic to join the existing group rather than create a new organization as was the consensus at the end of the meeting in Atlanta. By November 2014, the CCC Old Girls Association, USA/Canada was incorporated in Arizona as a non-profit charitable organization. The Association’s first national reunion and fundraising weekend was also held that month in Dallas, Texas, beginning what has now become an annual event.
Our Activities and Advocacy
We have since met every November in different cities to raise funds for specific projects. We met in Atlanta, Georgia in 2015, and again in Phoenix, Arizona in 2016. Our fourth national reunion and fundraising weekend was held in Baltimore, Maryland in November, 2017. The goal of the Baltimore gathering was to raise money to address the following urgent challenges in CCC:
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Crumbling school chapel (torn down for restoration in 2016 but work has stalled due to lack of funds);
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Broken perimeter fence (posing critical security threats to the students);
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Insufficient chairs and desks for teachers (causing teachers to share workstations).
The next Reunion and Fundraising weekend will hold in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. A major part of our activities next year will be the launch of a school supplies project, #OperationBackPack, for donation to eligible schools in our cities.
The projects that we have executed so far have been financed mostly by our members, families, friends, colleagues and people who believe in our cause. The extent to which we can help each year depends on the level of support (financial and material) that we receive from our members and supporters during the annual fundraising season, which culminates in a Reunion and Fundraising Banquet on the first Saturday of November. All proceeds raised during the fundraising banquet go directly to the execution of the project.
Previous Projects
Between 2014 and 2015 we raised funds toward different projects in the school. The 2015 project was the purchase of benches for the dining hall which was being built at the time. We ended up not spending Association funds because one of us, Ms. Margaret Umobong (Class of 1980), generously undertook the project by herself. Through contributions from our family, friends, supporters and Association members, we raised $7,000 (including the funds raised in 2014) to execute the 2016 project, equipping the school computer lab. We were able to purchase seven desktop computers, two projectors and four power back-up systems (known as UPS in Nigeria). In addition, we purchased a monster generator with sufficient capacity (31.5 KVA) to power the school’s two computer labs. These items were donated to the school on June 29, 2016 by Dr. Patience Akpan-Obong, the Association president. In 2017, we purchased 130 double bunk beds for the school from the proceeds of our 2016 fundraising project. Also, before the Association was formed, Prof. Patience Akpan-Obong (the current President) raised about N500,000 for the school from some Cornelians that she met on Facebook and readers of her newspaper column (in the Lagos-based Saturday Punch Newspaper).
These photos were taken by Dr. Patience Akpan-Obong when she visited CCC in November 2012. The first photo is the school kitchen while the second photo is one of the dormitories. The condition of the school triggered her interest in and advocacy for the rehabilitation of CCC. By 2014, the CCC Old Girls Association, USA/Canada was incorporated to work with CCC alumni around the world to address these problems.
Between 2014 and 2015, the Akwa Ibom State Administration did much renovation of the school dormitories and classroom blocks, thanks to advocacy by CCC alumni and staff. Much has been done but there is still much work to do.
By 2016, the dormitories had been renovated by the government of Akwa Ibom State, thanks to the advocacy efforts of CCC administration and alumni around the world. But there were no beds. In 2016, we raised funds to purchase 130 double bunk beds which we donated to the school in May 2017. Added to the 76 donated by wife of the Akwa Ibom State governor and a Cornelian, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel, the school now has sufficient number of beds in the dormitories.
On May 5, 2017, we donated 130 double bunk beds to CCC, Uyo, Nigeria.