WVU grad helps rebuild an African school with ‘Return to Bumpe’ event
The Morgantown community showed their support by coming out to the “Return to Bumpe” event at the Metropolitan Theatre Wednesday night. (Photo: Pamela Donohoo performs at ‘Return to Bumpe’ Wednesday night at the Metropolitan Theatre. )
West Virginia University graduate and Morgantown native Sarah Culberson hosted the event in an effort to rebuild a high school in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
Culberson was adopted as an infant, and in 2004 she discovered her biological father was a tribal leader of the Mende tribe in Bumpe, Sierra Leone – making her the princess of the tribe.
Bumpe High School is a boarding school that provided an education to more than 600 students and was destroyed by the Revolutionary United Front army during a civil war in the region, which lasted from 1991 to 2002.
A year after the discovery of her father, Culberson founded the Kposowa Foundation in hopes of rebuilding the school.
“All I wanted to do was to meet my real father,” Culberson said. “However, things turn out to be so much bigger than ourselves and sets us on a journey that we’ll never forget.”
Culberson’s adoptive father, Jim Culberson, is a neurobiology professor at WVU and spoke about his experiences with the foundation and the connections he’s made with the people of Sierra Leone.
“It’s a different world in Sierra Leone,” Jim said. “Over there, our efforts are about the children, the education and their future.”
Culberson gave a detailed account of her journey to Bumpe and the efforts that have come out of her foundation.
She said the Morgantown community played an instrumental part in the efforts to reconstruct the boarding school.
“There are no words to describe seeing the community you grew up in being so devoted to your cause,” Culberson said. “It chokes me up when I reflect on the support I have received from all of you here today.”
Culberson said even though the reconstruction so far has been more than she ever imagined possible, there are still more strides to be made.
She hopes to have a transportation system and plumbing system installed in the near future, and that one day the school will run on solar energy.
Currently, the school is without power and students who study at night use candlelight.
A library was recently built onto the school and was given by the Lemonade fund, a non-profit organization that runs through Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Fund.
WVU Theatre & Dance, local backwoods music band Stewed Mulligan and the WVU African Music and Dance Ensemble performed at the event.
Culberson’s close friend, Pamela Donohoo, a Los Angeles-based aerialist, also performed.
“This is what you’ve all contributed to and supported. You are a part of this journey. Every one here tonight is making a difference in this world,” Culberson said.
For more information on the Kposowa Foundation, visit www.bumpenya.com.
by Mallory Bracken/The Daily Athenaeum
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