Whilst on holiday in Zanzibar I was lucky enough to stumble across Paje Village and the wonderful people living there. In the middle of exploring the village I met nine-year old Othman. We played football for half an hour and communicated through our limited knowledge of each other's languages. I eventually got to meet his mother who welcomed me into their home. I visited his school and was sad to see the dilapidated swing set and classroom chairs. The headmaster complained about their lack of textbooks and I became keen to help.

The aim of the project that Ferdie and I have started is twofold. Firstly, given the strong connection that Othman and I created, I am keen to raise money to sponsor him to go to a school where he can excel academically and hopefully evolve his impressive football skills too! However, I now have forged a relationship with Paje school too and to this end Ferdie and I would like to be able to raise funds in order to improve the facilities at the school. They have access to one ancient laptop and very little teaching equipment. The two of us are travelling back in October to help teach English and we would like to bring some equipment for both Paje school and the South East Coast International school where thanks to your kind donations Othman should hopefully start school once we have visited.

If you would prefer, I am also raising money by selling photographic prints and postcards where 100% of the money will go towards Othman's school fees and equipment for both schools. Here is the link - Reve Zanzibar