'Education is a weapon of mass construction.'

Help to enhance the education of refugee children in Chios by donating what you would have spent on my birthday present to a more noble cause!

As you know, I have been volunteering with Refugee Education Chios. On Monday 14th November we opened a second school building, so we need more books! The school caters for children aged 6-18, so I am collecting secondary school text books (sets and single books), young adult and children's fiction, children's story books and books in Arabic, Farsi and Kurdish (Sorani and Kurmanji). These are being donated by schools and community groups. I am also gathering surplus stock from schools and libraries. With the recent curriculum changes, many schools have textbooks that are surplus to requirements which can be used in Chios, where our resources are more limited, rather than being recycled in the UK!

Instead of giving me presents, I am asking my family to donate towards the cost of shipping the books out there. A pallet costs approximately £100. I am hoping to collect a pallet load, resulting in a cost of less than 30p per book, making this the most cost effective way of sourcing English language books for teachers and students to use in Greece. Any excess money that is raised will be donated to be aware and share (http://www.baas-schweiz.ch), the Swiss charity that runs the school and will be spent on resources for project lessons. Past projects lessons have included gardening, making cookies, painting a giant mural and learning how to balance on a slackline!

Many of the refugee children in Chios have had their education interrupted by political instability, war and subsequent displacement. I have seen first hand how these children benefit from the opportunity to go to school. Enthusiastic children are given the chance to explore the world around them and learn to read. Dedicated teenagers develop their strengths and plug the gaps torn into their education by war.