Five years ago, my family and I traveled out to Zambia to visit the projects supported by the foundation that my grandparents established after the death of their daughter and my aunt, Cecily, in a road accident on her gap year in Zambia. Like most British twelve-year-olds, my interpretation of school was as a necessary, if often tedious, use of my time. But playing with children in BISO, a school project supported by Cecily’s Fund in a township outside Lusaka, I saw that for these children and so many others around the world education is not a chore but a chance for hope. With education comes the possibility of not just improving their own lives but those of their family and wider community.

Cecily’s Fund continues to use its over-20 years of experience to work through trusted Zambian partners across the country. BISO, an unassuming concrete quad outside the capital, is now the centre of its community, educating and feeding over 600 children. For many children in areas aided by Cecily’s Fund in the Copperbelt and Lusaka this school dinner is their only meal of the day. With the closure of schools by the Zambian government as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, this source of food is stopped.

In mid-March my A levels were cancelled due to Covid-19, throwing my plans of university up into the air. Using this time to train for and run a half-marathon, with my 11-year-old sister Esther cycling next to me, is our small attempt to ease the difficulty of this time for those for whom social distancing and lockdown means the removal of all source of livelihood and support. 

If the hope that Cecily’s Fund has created in Zambia is to continue, it needs the support of those of us more fortunate. Your support would provide food parcels, soap, firewood, and education on self-sufficiency and hygiene for those most in need and would be greatly appreciated.

For more information about Cecily's Fund and the Covid-19 Emergency Appeal please visit www.cecilysfund.org

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