LIBERIA: Volunteers from the Irish battalion based near Monrovia have begun teaching young Liberian teenagers living in internal displacement camps about Ireland's literary greats.
The teens have been displaced due to the country's civil war.
The volunteers are using old Irish textbooks as well as copybooks, pencils and pens that have been donated from a number of schools around Ireland as part of English classes they hold on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Liam O'Flaherty's His First Flight and Frank O'Connor's First Confession are among the short stories in the secondary school textbook Exploring English 1 which the troops are using in the classrooms.
According to Army chaplain Fr Robert McCabe, local parishes contacted him six weeks ago to see if any of the soldiers would be interested in taking part in an education programme and there was a great response from the troops.
"The students do not have to take classes at the weekend, but they are so keen to learn nearly a hundred are turning up.
"We have four soldiers teaching each class, so I think the teenagers have the best student/teacher ratio in Liberia," said the Army chaplain.
Ratoath School, Co Meath, has sent out 10 blackboards and chalk, while the Presentation Primary School, Mullingar, provided books, chalk, pens and pencils to facilitate the young scholars.
Loreto School, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, raised €1,500 to pay for a container to transport the materials to Monrovia.
"This is a great chance for the soldiers to engage with the locals. These are kids who see the value of education. They really want to learn," said Fr McCabe.
For information on how to take part in this project, email robert.mccabe@defenceforces.ie