Helping street kids in Zambia

Sir, On behalf of ZamScotEd I would like to thank everyone for their continued support of our education project in Zambia.

Our September coffee morning raised over £500, which will help us to furnish the second classroom block of our secondary school on the outskirts of Lusaka – known as St Columba’s.

I think many are aware that for the past two decades, first as the registered charity Mthunzi and Lilanda Initiative and then ZamScotEd – a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation – we have been supporting the education of some of the poorest children in Zambia.

There was no secondary school in the area and we had to send children off to schools all around Zambia. These were the former street children and local orphans cared for by the Mthunzi Children’s Programme.

But every year, around 40 children at the local elementary school were qualifying to go to secondary school and their families, often single mums or grannies looking after a clutch of children, couldn’t afford to do what we were doing for the kids rescued from the streets.

That’s when we decided to build St Columba’s – a very scary project to embark on, but somehow we’re getting there.

The first classroom block has been up and running since January 2016 and a second block will open in January 2018. That’s why we need cash for desks, blackboards, and other schoolroom essentials, and as always, the people of Mid Argyll are helping us to meet our targets.

We have had funding from organisations such as Mission Scotland and individuals like John Lowrie Morrison, Jolomo, but we couldn’t meet our commitments without the generosity of our local community.

Thank you, everyone - please keep coming to drink our coffee, eat our cakes, and give a future to some very bright kids in Zambia.

You can see some of those children and hear their story on Youtube. Visit www.youtube. com/ watch?v=n7X3l2ix_4E

Marian Pallister, founder and chair, ZamScotEd