Bow students raise cash for Kenyan school

BOW students have helped a Kenyan school buy a new wood burning stove so its 850 pupils can get a decent meal every day.

Through mufti days, talent shows and craft events, students at Central Foundation Girls’ School have been busy raising cash to give youngsters at Muthurwa school – which serves a slum district of Nairobi - a better shot.

Three teachers from the Harley Grove school have just returned back from a trip where they held lessons and saw how the money had been spent.

Janet Chapman, Central Foundation’s assistant head teacher, said: “It was fantastic to see how they’d used the funds. It is the main school in a very deprived area and it is growing.

“Some of the children get their only meal of the day at the school.”

The Nairobi school, which caters for 4 to 14-year-olds, also spent some of the money on guttering to collect rain water so they can grow crops.

On this exchange, Ms Chapman was joined by Tammy Seagar, who ran a dance project and Priya Dade, who taught science.

The partnership between the two schools started in 2006 after Ms Chapman visited Kenya on a family holiday.

She was so impressed with the way Muthurwa was run on such limited resources she looked into whether her own school could offer it some support.

In 2008, three teachers and ten students from Muthurwa visited Tower Hamlets and there are plans for more trips.