The Isle of Wight community are being urged to get behind a campaign to supply an orphan and day care centre in Kenya with brand new school uniform, 3 years on from a previous donation by Carisbrooke Primary School pupils and parents.
In 2014 Carisbrooke Primary School changed their uniform from red to blue and as a result the old red uniform was kindly donated to Uzima Orphan and Day Care Centre in Western Kenya. The good quality of the uniform has meant that even though it is worn by most children everyday (including the weekends and holidays), it has lasted well. However, the children have long grown out of it and it is literally falling apart.
‘Uzima in Our Hands’ trustees Joy Mowle, Dave Stubbings and Maxine Stubbings have realised that they are never going to be able to get enough second hand uniform of the same colour again in one go. This has led them to approach the Big Wight T Shirt Co in Newport who have given a good price for an order of enough sweatshirts for every child at Uzima – £6.95 for kids and £10.95 for teenagers.
In order to supply the 300 pupils at Uzima with a new uniform with their own logo the charity needs help. Islanders can visit the Big Wight T Shirt Co on Daish Way, Newport or by donating online at www.uzimainourhands.org. Every donation counts and 100% of your gift goes to pay for the sweatshirt.
Each year a group of Trustees and supporters visit Uzima and spend 2 weeks working with the children. Following the last visit a separate appeal was started to raise enough money to build and equip 3 more classrooms to be able to provide vocational training to the children when they reach school leaving age. Incredibly, the charity is already almost halfway towards the target of £50,000 since their return in February and the project has been able to commence.
Working with Island charity West Wight Sports and Community Centre, the next fund raising event for the vocational classrooms will be on Saturday 28th October. The event will be a sponsored climb to the height of Mount Kenya using the Centres new indoor climbing wall. All ages and abilities are encouraged to join in and it will be an opportunity to try out the new wall at the same time as raising money for the 2 charities.
Chair of Uzima Trustees, Joy Mowle who works at West Wight Sports & Community Centre said:
“It’s amazing just what a difference the support from the Isle of Wight is making. The children we support live in extreme hardship and we have developed a close link between Uzima and the Isle of Wight communities. Islanders have shown themselves to be very generous and caring and we are so grateful for their support.”
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