Prep School Roots & Shoots Charity Update
Following our Roots & Shoots inspired charity fundraisers this academic year, we had a Charity Update Assembly for all the Prep School pupils to share what amazing things have been happening with the money they raised.
Every family across the Prep School contributed their time, energy and money to the fundraising, so we were keen to show all the wonderful things happening in different parts of the world on the back of their efforts.
Updates
South Africa
Diepsloot informal township - Johannesburg
Construction and garden revitalisation at the Early Childhood Development Centre in Diepsloot are well underway to provide sustainable classrooms, food-source gardens and ample spaces in which they will engage in Roots & Shoots activities of their own.
On February 1st, the Earthly Touch Foundation officially launched the construction and gardens program. Volunteers, educators, and local children recently all came together to celebrate the beginning of something special and exciting.
With the funds raised by the children, the Earthly Touch Foundation have already:
Installed a water tank to ensure a sustainable water supply to irrigate the gardens.
Initiated garden revitalisation by clearing, preparing, and beginning to plant new crops in the area outside where the ECD centre will be.
Created 10 garden beds with eco-brick walls surrounding them. Seedlings (kale, tomatoes, onion, spinach) and manure have been planted.
Produced and collected eco-bricks filled with plastic and sand to be used in the construction process. To date, they have completed circa 10,000 plastic eco-bricks and over 1000 sand-filled eco-bricks.
Cleared ground for the construction of the eco-brick classrooms, dug foundation trenches and began the construction of the new classrooms.
Chimp Eden, Jane Goodall Institute – Nelspruit, Mpumalanga
With the money raised during Charity Week, each form sponsored a chimp. We love knowing that we have helped to fund their care at Chimp Eden!
The children’s fundraising also granted Chimp Eden’s full wish-list of items, enhancing the care on offer to chimpanzees who in a previous life have been very badly mistreated.
The items have been ordered and are expected to arrive very soon. They include, food storage solutions, technical equipment and hammocks.
Sri Lanka
Mavai, award winning model farm - Maviddapuram, Jaffna district
The runaway success of our Roots & Shoots Club members’ Minted initiative began with Christmas jumpers and led, most recently, to World Book Day costumes. In total, the children’s efforts generated just shy of £1,500 – every penny of which has been used to seed over 1,750 grow bags, providing food and income sources for five schools and over 55 families living well below the poverty line. The cultivation process takes 4 to 5 weeks, and the second batch of beneficiaries will receive theirs very soon.
The children’s passion to deliver meaningful positive impacts for the identified needs of people, animals and the environment continues to burn brightly and the pathways they are carving towards true global citizenship, with outlooks to match, are something we all take pride in.