Duke of Edinburgh Award students back Sidmouth shopkeeper’s African school project
BOYS from the UK’s only all boys’ independent Catholic senior school in Reading are backing a Sidmouth trader’s project to build a school in her home village in Tanzania.
This week David Watkins, a geography teacher and Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme manager at the Oratory School, Reading, presented Judith Smith of Sanaa House, Sidmouth, with �420.30 towards her Buturi Makongoro School project, during a visit to the town, where his family live.
It is the second year the school has raised funds for the project. Last year they gave �300.
“The boys, aged 13-14, devised and completed individual or group fundraising after learning about the project,” said David, who met Judith some years ago.
“It was her warmth and enthusiasm that immediately drew me towards the project.
“Having that personal link also ensures the boys and I know 100 percent where our donation is going and how it will be used.”
He said he hoped the school might one day organise a visit to Tanzania to “engage more fully” with Judith’s school project.
*Sanaa House is ‘selling’ seven bricks for �1 donation towards the cost of building the school, whose foundations were laid recently by a small team led by Luppitt builder Mick Rose.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here