Pupils still have hearts set on Malawi mission despite trip axe
PUPILS at a secondary school in Clarkston are still determined to have three classrooms built at a primary abroad despite their trip cancelled due to coronavirus.
A group of 31 S6 pupils from Williamwood High School were due to fly to Malawi in June.
The trip got rescheduled to October before it became clear that they weren’t able to go.
But the kind- hearted youngsters and the teacher leading the project still have their hearts set on raising the massive £ 32,000 that’s needed for the classrooms to be built at Emazinyeni Primary School.
Chris McKenna, principal teacher of pupil support and leader of the Malawi partnership, said: “Since October 2018 the group of pupils have been working with Classrooms for Malawi to help to build the classrooms.
“We still need to raise £ 7000 to allow us to get to the total target. We had to cancel a charity ball and numerous other fundraisers due to coronavirus.
“As a school, we have been committed since 2014 to improving the education of the children at Ekwendeni Primary School.
“We have been going out and working with Classrooms for Malawi to do construction work, make physical improvements, build doors and windows – all to give the children a better learning environment. When we were out in 2018, people in the community had asked if we could check out another school – Emazinyeni Primary.
“We then discovered there that children were learning outdoors, and we have been committed to building three classrooms since then.”
Currently, the school only has four purpose- built classrooms in use despite 438 pupils attending, which has a significant impact on the children’s education.
Chris added: “If the trip went ahead we would have been physically working on site with Classrooms for Malawi and the local builders, but that wasn’t to be.
“The most important aspect was improving the education for the children and just because we can’t visit doesn’t mean that the classrooms should not go ahead.”
To raise the remaining funds, pupils, staff and parents have been challenged to cover the 7000 miles to Malawi between them and raise £ 1 for every mile covered.
Chris ran a marathon last week himself. He added: “We are determined now and got creative with our fundraising so we can go ahead and get the classrooms built and still make the positive impact on the children at the school.”
To donate, visit JustGiving. com and search “Williamwood High School’s Miles to Malawi Challenge”.