The College of the Canyons (COC) honors society Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) is working toward raising $90,000 for Building As A Teaching Tool (BAATT), a nonprofit that seeks to help those in The Republic of the Sudan rebuild their communities and structures lost due to the region’s decade-long violent conflict.

“The Darfurian refugees in Sudan are stuck in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps with no access to education or sustainable housing,” said PTK member Nancy Markell. “The ‘Building As A Teaching Tool’ project is a mechanism that will allow the local population to rebuild their communities and use these structures as classrooms.”

Since 2003, millions of Sudanese people have either been killed or displaced during the Darfur Conflict, fighting between rebel groups and the government, according to CNN. As the violence has recently de-escalated in comparison to when it began, “Building As A Teaching Tool” hopes to now enter the region and assist the nearly 3 million people living in IDP camps throughout Darfur and the larger Sudanese region.

BAATT has listed that its two main goals are to provide places for education, as “access to education is a basic human right,” and to teach design and building skills, according to Artur Nesterenko, BAATT project manager and designer.

“BAATT does this by partnering with communities and regional professional volunteers to train and employ local workers as well as buying local materials, to allow for investment in the regional economy,” said Nesterenko.

Related: COC Grad Awarded $7,500 Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship

While BAATT plans to work on a wide range of individual projects and buildings within the South Sudan region, they have specifically partnered with PTK to create a school for refugees in Darfur.

“Schools and learning centers will provide refugees with a basic education, and will be an aspect of camp life that will offer hope to many families,” said Nesterenko. “This education will empower students to strive for better opportunities to change their lives.”

Along with what is taught within the school once it is completed, BAATT believes that it is also important that the building should be constructed by the local people that plan to use the structure.

“Student-builders of the school will acquire skills such as brick making, rammed earth construction, thatch and metal roofing, installing composting toilets and water management and conservation,” said Nesterenko. “These skills will be the foundation to entrepreneurial ventures as resettlements begin to take place.”

College of the Canyons’s Phi Theta Kappa became involved with the project because Nikol Nesterenko, Artur Nesterenko’s niece, is vice president of the club. Nikol Nesterenko thought that Phi Theta Kappa had the resources and organization to help make a difference outside of the Santa Clarita Valley.

“This project will help those in the African region learn how to build structures, who can then help rebuild their village and possibly give the people hope that their situation will get better,” said Nikol Nesterenko, vice president of Phi Theta Kappa. “Phi Theta Kappa hopes to make a difference for the people that have been innocent in the genocides in Sudan, particularly those from the Darfur area.”

As previously stated, Phi Theta Kappa hopes to raise $90,000 to organize local businesses such as Home Depot and Lowes to possibly donate construction tools that they would then receive a tax deduction for. Additionally, the College of the Canyons club is planning events that reach out to the College of the Canyons student body directly, in order to garner more support from their peers.

“This is extremely important to both the College of the Canyons student body and Santa Clarita as a whole because we can utilize the resources at our disposal to help those in need,” said Markell.

Those wishing to contribute to PTK’s effort can either donate monetarily, or by giving resources such as building tools, according to Nikol Nesterenko.

Those wishing to donate to “Building As A Teaching Tool” or learn more about BAATT can visit the organization’s website here.

For more information about Phi Theta Kappa at College of the Canyons, visit their website here.

“People should donate so that we can try to help out those in Darfur that are receiving no help from their government,” concluded Nikol Nesterenko. “They have no one to help them, which is why there should be people in our community that are willing to help.”

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