Nic Corbett/The Star-Ledger
But after a whirlwind expedition this past summer to Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Morocco with Nicholas Kristof and another contest winner, Connolly said she’s energized to learn more about the continent and to get her students at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School to pay attention as well.
“My best students have come from underdeveloped parts of the world and have been very inspirational to me,” said Connolly, who lives in Glen Ridge. “I thought it would be a sort of tribute to them and a way to test myself: ‘Could I make myself follow through with this?’”
Connolly will be giving a travelogue tonight at 8 p.m. at Bnai Keshet at 99 S. Fullerton Ave. in Montclair. She plans to talk about the small but important changes that are happening to improve nutrition and infant and maternal health, among other things. Some of the projects are simple as urging mothers to breastfeed their children from birth to six months old.
Connolly said she hopes she can organize a trip to Africa with a few of her students in a couple years.
“I’d love to take them back and let them see what I saw, how differently people live, how courageous people are in situations of great duress and to maybe write some stories about it,” she said.
