By Christina Arnold
Pulse Staff Reporter

Imagine having a research paper due, but the university you are attending does not have the money to buy the materials you need to complete your project.

This is the problem Gabriel Ume, Assistant Professor of Government at Palo Alto College, saw while visiting Enugu State University of Technology in 1987, located in his native country of Nigeria.

After returning to the United States, Ume's friends and colleagues from Nigeria began contacting him, asking for journals and information on different subjects. Ume sent an e-mail out to the faculty at Palo Alto asking for extra books.

Professor Ume will accept donations to help defray the cost of mailing books to a university in Africa in his office, Social Sciences Building, Room 128.
Photo by Tim Stidhem

Dan Garrett with Southwest Book Recycling helped spread the word to other colleges around South Texas. He went to schools to buy books from teachers and ended up telling them about Ume and the books he is collecting, which lead to many more book donations.

“A bookstore in College Station, Texas, gave me a 15-foot U-haul trailer full of books,” said Ume “Before I knew it, books were coming from everywhere.”

Ume now has around 6,000 books that have been cataloged and packed. All that is left to do is to ship the books, which will cost an estimated $5,000. At this time, Ume is waiting for a grant of $2,000 to $3,000 from the African Studies Association.

Ginger Hall Carnes, Director of Community and Public Relations at Palo Alto College, offered to collect donations for Ume from the faculty and staff during the week of Sept. 25 through Oct. 4.

”Gabriel didn't even ask me to do this. I thought, `Let's give him an idea, so he'll know what he has to come up with on his own,'” said Carnes.

According to Carnes, the faculty and staff collected $425 in donations for Ume. At this time he still needs at least $1,000. Additional donations can be made to Gabriel Ume or to Anita Soliz, the secretary in the Social Sciences Building. If you would like to write a check, please make checks payable to Gabriel Ume.

“We're going to need more,” Carnes said. “It's definitely something students can help with.”

Ume plans to ship the books as soon as he gets all the money to cover the cost. Whatever is not donated, Ume will pay out of his own pocket.

Ume is sending these books to Enugu State University. The school cannot afford to buy the materials and books needed from book companies because of government restrictions and a very unstable currency.

At Palo Alto, it is students who help support the library through library fees found attached to the tuition bill. These fees are added together with the rest of the Alamo Community College District then divided among the schools.

Gloria Hilario, the Learning Resource Center Director said, “The last several years, we have received $300,000 each year.” Of the $300,000, about $15,000 goes into preparing the materials to be put on the shelves.

Gabriel Ume came to the United States in 1978 when he was 23. He had heard many stories about the United States from American students on a work-study program, Operation Crossroads Africa. Their stories enticed him to come to the United States to find out if they were true.

He began studying in the United States at Tennessee Union University on a program through the government of Nigeria. After a year, the Nigerian government was overthrown and he lost his funding. Ume did not give up. Instead, he moved to Texas where he graduated from Southwest Texas State University and earned his bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

Ume continued his education with financial support from his parents at St. Mary's University, where he received his master's degree in Political Science.

Ume has been teaching at Palo Alto College since 1998. “I am lucky to be here,” Ume said. “(Palo Alto is an) open-minded college.”

In his classroom, Ume likes to find out what students know and don't know. Then, he teaches them what they need to know.

“I believe that education is a process of inquiry,” Ume said. He tries to give his students knowledge instead of filling their heads with information. Ume wants his students to be able to identify problems with the government, then know what to do to get the problems solved. He said, “Anyone should be able to cross the street by themselves.”

Ume is not only helping his own students, but by collecting and sending books to others across the world, he is helping others to “cross the street.”