Back to basics

A teacher who was shocked to discover that some of her pupils were constantly tired because they did not have their own bed, has started a charity to end bed poverty.

Bex Wilson, from Leeds, found out that children were forced to sleep in bathtubs or on infested sofa cushions because their parents could not afford a proper place for them to sleep.

Since setting up her charity, Zarach, which is from the Bible and (very roughly) means ‘rise and shine’, Wilson has donated more than 1,400 beds, mattresses, duvets and sheets to families in poverty.

‘If a child sleeps and eats well, they learn better. Education is the key to breaking the poverty cycle,’ she says. Find out more at zarach.org