In collaboration with the charity Wavumbuzi, and the office of the Prime Minister of Tanzania, School Aid despatched a large consignment of books, furniture and uniform to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.
The beautiful landlocked country of Lesotho has a mountainous terrain which makes it difficult to reach the more remote regions. For our first shipment to Lesotho, sponsored by the Waterloo Foundation, in 2010, a 20-foot container of books and other resources was distributed by helicopter with the help of our partner, the Lesotho Ministry of Education. While this was an exciting way to deliver the resources, the economics of this type of transport could not be repeated on a regular basis, so School Aid began the task of creating a distribution network from the UK to Lesotho.
School Aid volunteers weren't slow to take advantage of a brief lull in the winter storms of February 2014, cramming every corner of a 20ft container with much-needed educational resources. The container-load of books and furniture is earmarked for ten secondary schools, most of them around the town of Mwanza in the Lakes area of Tanzania. All were nominated by School Aid partners Wavumbuzi Charity and the Wabia Network.
Sadly, customs procedures in Tanzania can be complex, and we are still awaiting developments on the status of this shipment.
Read about our latest library project as it happens!
On the 20th March 2014 a shipment left the warehouse for South Africa. It included books collected from UK schools as well as new primary school books donated by Usborne publishers. In addition, it included stationery collected by the Rotary clubs of Swindon and Keswick, some toys and sports equipment, as well as laboratory equipment provided by our partners LabAid.
On 5th June 2014 a shipment of books was sent to our partners Link Community Development in Malawi, for distribution to 17 primary and secondary schools in the central Dedza region.
A beautiful sunny day in July saw School Aid volunteers filling every corner of a 20ft container with books, stationery, sports kit and furniture, bound for 16 schools in Tanzania.
On 25 September 2014 a shipment was sent to South Africa. It contained books for distribution by School Aid South Africa to schools in the Johannesburg and Cape Town areas, as well as books to be distributed by new partner, The Bookery, to help with development of their library project at Heatherdale Primary School in Cape Town.
On Thursday, 27 November, School Aid volunteers turned out to load a 20ft container bound for the tiny, mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa. Along with around 22,500 primary and secondary schoolbooks, the consignment included items of school uniform that were requested by some of the 41 recipient schools. Between them these schools educate more than 18,000 students, including nearly 7,000 orphans and vulnerable children. Most have no school library, and very few children have access to their own textbooks.
In February 2015 a shipment of fiction and non fiction books was sent to schools in Cape Town and George area. As always they were enthusiastically received. Some of the comments included the following: