Paisley school extends hand of friendship to its poor African relations

Mar 12 2010 by Jeff Holmes, Paisley Daily Express

AGROUP of Paisley pupils have gone global in their determined effort to help schoolchildren more than 5,000 miles away.

Kind-hearted students from Gleniffer High have raised cash for Dzenza Primary School, in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world.

And the £470, brought in through a series of fundraising activities, will be used to cultivate a vegetable garden and plant an orchard within the grounds of the school.

The produce will help feed pupils at lunchtimes through a sustainable programme, which will be developed and attended to by Dzenza pupils, staff and members of the community groups.

David Nicholls, head teacher at Gleniffer High, said: “Becoming involved in the Dzenza Project is part of our drive to encourage pupils to become global citizens.

“We want our students to help developing countries realise their potential in a sustainable way and to have them recognise that there is much to be learned from other races and cultures.

“Our relationship with Dzenza has been extremely positive as our pupils are now more knowledgeable about Malawi and its customs and culture and they have seen their fundraising efforts produce tangible results in the form of the vegetable garden and orchard which will help feed the children.”

David added: “We aim to build on the success of this project and will continue to support sustainable programmes in Malawi.

“By doing so, the hope is that Gleniffer High School will leave a lasting legacy in this beautiful but impoverished country.”

The Paisley school has been involved with Dzenza through the Link Community Development Programme since 2007 and aims to raise £1,000 annually to support sustainable projects in the school.

The money sent to Malawi, which lies on the south-east of Africa, was raised through a series of fundraising initiatives including end-of-term non-uniform days, where pupils were permitted to come to school wearing casual clothes in exchange for a donation to the appeal.

As part of the African experience, pupils were also involved in selling Fairtrade products to fellow students and staff during break times.

Additionally, the school held an ‘Africa Week’, to give children a taste of what life is like in the impoverished continent.

Each department was tasked with delivering a series of lessons.

And one member of staff, English teacher Andy Cole, who has travelled extensively in Malawi, gave a spellbinding account of his time in a country whose culture is totally different to that of Scotland.

Artefacts

He illustrated his talk with an array of African artefacts that he had brought back from his travels.

Indeed, Dzenza Primary School is a world away from Gleniffer High School.

Situated in the Dedza District of Malawi, getting to school is very difficult and some of the population are living on just 15p a day.

But the good news is that there are already signs that the money raised by Gleniffer pupils is having an impact and making a real difference to children’s lives.

The project was established in April last year and the head teacher of the Dzenza school has reported recently that work has started and good progress has been made.

A borehole has been drilled into the school grounds to supply water for vegetable gardens, vegetables have been planted and the first shoots of growth can be seen.

Parents of the Malawi schoolchildren have also been involved in chopping up maize stocks, which can be used in the compost manure for the vegetable garden.

Gleniffer’s close ties with the school are already starting to pay off handsomely.