Four small schools in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu will benefit from the donation by Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff of books for pupils and teachers.

The initiative was led by the CSU School of Management and Marketing in Bathurst following a holiday in Vanuatu in late 2012 by Ms Liz Bracken, an Industry Fellow in Management at CSU.

She visited a small school there and was impressed by the dedication of the six under-resourced teachers and the enthusiasm of the students. The school did not have electricity, and had very few age-appropriate books or other resources for children's' education. Ms Bracken decided to assist.

A call to CSU colleagues for donations of appropriate children's' books and educational resources resulted in enough material to fill about 20 large cardboard packing cartons.

Mr Mark Frost, Head of the School of Management and Marketing, said, "The School is proud to be a contributor to this very worthwhile initiative. The way the wider University, community and staff has assisted our efforts is very rewarding. I have personal experience of working in schools in the Pacific and it is hard to imagine that many schools are lucky to have a library and children even have pens and writing paper. It is wonderful that we can assist these schools and their students in this way."

Significant contributions of resources were made by: Associate Professor Marilyn Pietsch, Director of the Professional Experience Unit in the Faculty of Education; Ms Jennifer Morrison, course administrative officer in the School of Teacher Education; and Ms Jennifer Arrow, coordinator, cataloguing, in the Division of Library Services; and by business students from the School of Management and Marketing who volunteered to pack the books and resources. Mr Craig Best at 'Pack & Send' in William Street, Bathurst, donated the boxes for packing and his time to handle the approximately two cubic metres of freight.