Pupils happy to help out
Backpacks off to Africa
St Anthony’s collects for Malawi PAGE 17
Kindhearted youngsters at a Rutherglen school have helped raise hundreds of pounds and filled more than 50 backpacks for children in Malawi.
St Anthony’s primary three pupils have been raising awareness of the work of charity Mary’s Meals through a whole school assembly and coordinating The Backpack Project.
The school have raised over £200 and filled 56 schoolbags with items such as notepads, pencils, pens, crayons, towels, flip-flops and sandals.
And the efforts of pupils and staff could not have come at a better time as Malawi president Peter Mutharika has just announced a state of food emergency in the African nation.
Families in the south of the troubled country are understood to be eating only once every four days.
Malawi’s maize production has dropped by 12 per cent, leaving it short of about one million tonnes of maize needed to feed the population.
Teacher at St Anthony’s, Mrs Blair, explained: “Primary three did the assembly to raise awareness of The Backpack Project but the whole school helped.
“Each class were told to bring in certain items and the P3s coordinated it all together for the backpacks.
“They have learned a lot from it and understand how lucky they are. The day was a great success.
“They also raised money for the project with a World Porridge Day at the school where they made porridge and sold it.”
Mary’s Meals ‘ The Backpack Project’ is a simple way of helping children in countries like Malawi and Liberia get the best out of school.
Very often the children they support do not have basic school essentials like pens and notepads to allow them to make the most of their education.
The project send the filled backpacks to children which will enable them to attend school and gain an education that can help them escape from poverty when they grow up.