BIG-hearted kids at a Rugby primary school put the ‘fun’ into fund-raising to help a Rugby-based charity improve education in one of the world’s least-developed countries.
Year 4 children at The Crescent School have raised over £1,350 for the Bwengu Projects Malawi charity, which Rugby couple Sue and Tony Melia set up in 2005 after they witnessed the terrible conditions at a Malawi school where they were teaching voluntarily.
Each year, Year 4 children at the school study Africa, Malawi and the work of the charity, and organise fund-raising activities for the whole school.
This year, they raised money through various activities including a non-uniform day, a fund-raising day of activities and games, collections at the school’s Easter Service and Spring Concert, and a sponsored silence – an idea their teachers very much enjoyed!
The school was one of the Bwengu Projects Malawi’s first supporters back in 2007 when it donated books for use in school libraries – one of the charity’s earliest projects.
The school’s Deputy Head Bryony Forth said: “Supporting Bwengu Projects is always a highlight of my teaching year, something which I am personally very proud to be part of.
“The children always enjoy studying Bwengu and comparing ‘A Village Less Economically Developed with their home town of Rugby’ in their Geography lessons.
“Over the years, we must have raised over £18,000 for this charity, and helped pay for renovating schools, building a Women’s Development Centre, providing sewing machines, classroom furniture, a teacher’s salary and nearly 60,000 meals for orphans.
“The children worked incredibly hard this year organising lots of different events. They smashed their fundraising target, having raised a great total of £1,351.
“The money will be used to refurbish Matecha Early Learning Centre and to fund six months of the Llema Primary School Adult Education scheme.”
Sue and Tony’s daughter Sam, who works with the charity, visited the school to receive the cheque from Year 4 pupils Joshua and Flora during an assembly.
She said: “There are so many different people in need across the world and we are so grateful that every year the pupils at Crescent School choose to support Bwengu Projects and help unlock the opportunity of education for the children of Malawi.”
