Africa Day 2021

Author: hue

Friday 9^th July was a very special day at Bourne Abbey as we became Agents of Change to raise money for our favourite charity: Friends of Nyansakia. We had seen recent photographs of the children, teachers and parents of the school we support in Kenya and had heard all about how they had been keeping safe during the pandemic. We were thrilled to see the chicken house and chickens that the money we had previously raised had gone towards the purchase of, and we were really keen to raise more money so that the charity can buy cows to provide milk for the children too! We are aware as UNICEF rights respecting schools that all children have the right to clean water and nutritious food to eat. Eggs and milk are a vital source of protein for the children in Nyansakia to supplement the maize and beans that they grow to eat at lunchtime. The feeding programme was started by the charity – before that, the children did not have any food to eat at lunchtimes and found it difficult to concentrate.  We are so proud of our friends in Nyansakia as their school is now ranked 3^rd out of the 10 in their district. The right to an education is also an important article from the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Although there are many differences between our lives and theirs, a love of learning is one of the things we have in common. Student Council co-ordinator at Bourne Abbey Mrs Anderson said, “Our children always love raising money for Friends of Nyansakia. Having such close links with the charity enables us to see the results of our fundraising in action. The children still remember Mr McKenna from FON talking to them about the rainwater harvesting system and the desire to provide chickens, now they can see photographs of the children in Nyansakia benefitting from these things. It is truly awe inspiring for our children to see their efforts paying off and enables them to see what being a rights respecting school really means.”

Another trustee from FON, Terry Westwood, has recently been on a 40 mile sponsored bike ride to raise much-needed additional funds. Student Council this year decided that as we couldn’t hold our traditional stalls and activities, we would try to match Terry’s efforts and walk 40 miles in our class bubbles. Luckily, the day was lovely and sunny and we had a lot of fun walking “A Mile in Style” around our school field and grounds. You can see from the pictures that we all dressed in the colours of the Kenyan flag and generally had a whale of a time!

We are hoping to have raised a lot of money for Friends of Nyansakia. If you would also like to be an Agent of Change and make a difference to the lives of these children, please visit the website FONKenya.org where you can read more and make a donation if you wish.

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