3:58pm Thursday 28th August 2008
By Ben Briggs
A JET engineer swapped the aircraft hangar for the classroom during a two-week stint to improve the use of the English in Africa.
Greg Morgan, 53, from Chorley, spent his time teaching English language to primary school teachers in Rwanda and even met the country’s president during the opening of a community centre.
Mr Morgan, who works at BAE Systems, Samlesbury, took part in the scheme after it was advertised by the Conservative Party.
The senior support engineer on the Typhoon programme said: “When I read the advert I realised that I actually did very little in the way of supporting others so I decided that this was an opportunity to give something back.
“Although some of the teachers and other people such as medics were based out in the countryside, I decided that two weeks in the capital of Kigali was enough of an adventure for me.
“My only qualification for the job was a one-day training course in teaching English as a foreign language, so when I was allocated 50 primary school teachers it was a bit daunting.
“However, I soon got to know my students and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.”
The initiative called for professionals who were willing and able to give up their time to support a range of local community projects, and Mr Morgan was granted special leave from his job at BAE Systems which left him free to join over 100 other volunteers in Africa.
Each volunteer was able to offer support to the local community ranging from financial advice to business management with some applying their skills to building a brand new community centre.
According to Mr Morgan, the high point of the trip was attending the opening of a community centre during which the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, congratulated the support workers on their help in helping him achieve his vision to rebuild the country.
Approximately 2,500 Rwandan kids benefited from the efforts of Greg and his teacher colleagues.
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