Julie Maio of Luigi’s Hotel which is close to the school, began feeding the children who were previously malnourished. Julie links tourists staying at the hotel with the school and they’re invited to visit and sponsor pupils to help with the running costs.

Since 2012, Jofi School has relied on the generous sponsorship of pupils from donors all over the world. The Nursery school has grown from 20 students to 250 students and the individual sponsors now cover around 50% of the children.

As the school students outgrew the school, Julie bought the land for a new Jofi Primary School in 2016 and raised £100,000 for the successful build.

Jofi Primary School currently finishes in Grade 6 (age 11) meaning the pupils’ education is likely to finish at that point as the state-run secondary school has limited spaces and the parents need to pay for uniforms and textbooks which most can’t afford.

The next chapter for Jofi School is a crucial round of fundraising to enable a much-needed expansion to cope with the ever-increasing demand as more and more children want to come to school and to continue their schooling after the age of 11.

The joining together of Jofi Primary and Jofi High schools on one site utilises the space Jofi School already has, rather than having to buy more land and build new schools.

This means the overall build costs less; instead of £250,000 for a new build, Jofi School now needs to raise £100,000 to fund the extension and refurbishment of its current site.