Back in 2015, Barnes Primary School donated 2,500 school lunches when the World Food Program suspended free school meals at our partner school in Rwanda, G.S. Rusuzumiro. This intervention had a powerful impact as attendance rates stayed high, students didn't go hungry, concentration levels remained good and learning continued pretty much as normal.
From September 2023, however, The World Food Program had to drastically reduce its lunch program in Rwanda to concentrate its efforts in other parts of the world, such as Ukraine. Rusuzumiro School parents and carers therefore now have to pay for school meals.
Head Teacher Martin SINDIKUBWABO says that...
There has been good progress since 2015 and I estimate that about 45% of parents should now be able to pay for their child’s lunch. I'm really concerned though that without a free school meal, many families might keep their children at home to help cultivate crops as many of them live in really difficult conditions. I'm worried attendance will drop dramatically and if these students do come to school, they will probably be hungry, so their concentration levels will be poor and their learning will suffer...
You might wonder - why not send a packed lunch from home? However, the Rwandan government wants all state school children to have equal opportunities e.g. the same education, same study conditions, the same lunch etc. so packed lunches are not allowed.
Martin has therefore asked Barnes Primary to co-fund school lunches with Rusuzumiro School this year to prevent high dropout rates. He wants to feed ALL the students and maintain a positive learning environment. No-one wants a child to go hungry and stop learning so we said YES!
Please see here for a 40 sec video of what lunchtime looks like at Rusuzumiro.
Lunch project cost: £6,000
For the last six years Barnes Primary have donated for about 350 Health Insurance Cards per year which cost about £3 each. This enables families from low-income households to access primary health care for one year. We would like to continue to support this life saving project for a seventh year from 1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025.
Head Teacher, Martin SINDIKUBWABO says...
The donation of health insurance cards that are given to the vulnerable people of Rusuzumiro has been very important. If it was not there, many of the students would have missed lots of school or others could have lost their lives because of the lack of capacity to pay insurance cards and medical cost themselves. Many thanks to all of you who contributed to saving the lives of Rusuzumiro students.
Health Insurance Card project cost: £1,000
Every penny counts and really does make a real difference to the children, families and staff at our partner school, Rusuzumiro. We hope you can help us reach our target by donating to this page or even doing your own fundraising events too!
Thank you so much - together we can really Make a Difference!
Barnes Primary School in partnership with MAD4Africa
Harvest Festival October 2023 - £1, 674. Thank you for your generosity!
Christmas Service December 2023 - tbc!
Run 4 Rusuzumiro June 2024 - tbc!
You can support your school partnership at anytime throughout the year by making a donation via this page or, why start your own fundraising page?
Together, we really can make a difference.
Thank you so much.
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