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Hello!
Plan and Turner Broadcasting 2010 - Rubona Primary School Construction Project, Rwanda
On 19th February 2010 I will be visiting Rwanda, with Turner Broadcasting and Plan UK, to assist with the Rubona Primary School project. Our week long stay involves helping to start construction on building an additional three classrooms, to the existing school, to accommodate pupils who are currently congested in poor conditions in dilapidated buildings. There are currently 1200 pupils in the school. Along with 19 colleagues at Turner, we each need to raise £999. Turner will match each individuals amount to hit our target of over £35,500 combined. We will each be paying for our own flights and accommodation, anything raised through donations will go directly to the cost of raw materials on site, classroom furniture and equipment. The project also has the aim to improve the quality of basic education through an improved learning environment. Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world, with nearly 87% of the population living on just £1 a day. Years of experience have shown that education is one of the most important ways of helping communities work their way out of poverty. Following the end of the recent civil war and the 1994 genocide, Plan UK has recently begun working in Rwanda. Partly as a result of the genocide 810,000 children have been orphaned and nearly 15% of all children now live in child-headed households. Many families simply cannot afford to send their children to school or pay for equipment. School enrolment rates reflect the poor condition and quality of the education system and lack of resources – only a quarter of children go to primary school and less than 10% go on to secondary school. Rehabilitating schools and improving the quality of education is vital for children and the wider community to help them address, and cope with, their experiences and break the cycle of poverty. So, please dig deep and donate as much or as little as you can to a very worthy cause. I am already half way there as have raised just over £550 through a cake sale and a pub quiz that I organised at work. It's going to be heavy manual labour for the week long project so I will be working very hard! No luxuries - no hot showers or hair dryers - so please bear that in mind when donating!!!! Thanks so much for your support, Love Lou xxx