This page has been created in the memory of our son, Lewis McLachlan, who sadly passed away aged 13. Despite his own illness, Lewis always felt that the children in Africa were much worse off than himself. It had been his intention to set up a direct debit to help those children, but unfortunately, time wasn't on his side. This fund has been set up to realise his dream by helping a specific project through Save the Children. We are raising money to refurbish a school in Liberia, which as you can see from the photo, is desperately needed.

Save the Children has supported the school since 2006 under the Rewrite the Future education challenge. 306 primary school children (189 boys and 117 girls) have benefited from their interventions in this school. They have provided furniture and stationary to the school and will be working with teachers, parents and the children to build a safe learning environment and improve the quality of education. In addition, they are supporting the Accelerated Learning programme, which includes children who were associated with the armed forces and those children, who due to the armed conflict, have missed out on their primary school education and are now over primary school ages.   

Garmu village is a small rural village within walking distance of the Guinea border. It is very highly populated with many returnees, including, refugees. Many of the students attending the school have recently returned. Education is important for peace and to reduce the risk of children being recruited into fighting forces in the future by providing better opportunities to develop and to have a future.

Due to the fantastic generosity of everyone who has donated to Lewis's site, we have already reached our original target of £7500. Since the school has been refurbished over 150 additional children have now enrolled - all made possible by peoples kind donations. The Garmu School refurbishment is now nearing completion, however, we are still recieving money from all over the world. We have raised the target to £15,000 to help raise additional funds to support new projects with Save the Children. As these develop we will send you details of where and how the money has been spent.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to donate: Save the Children will receive your money electronically and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in Gift Aid will be added to your donation at no cost to you.

Please donate generously.
Many thanks for your support.

Kim & Neil McLachlan