LOCAL charity SOS Africa recently set up its third school project in South Africa, giving it a total of 44 students now receiving a special education.
The charity, founded by Frome man Matt Crowcombe, opened the Terreo Mission School in Western Cape in January. Its six pupils are the most recent additions to the programme that aims to give local children quality schooling that they can’t get in the overstretched state system.
Matt said, “I’m really pleased with the new school, and it’s great to see our projects working. The charity is growing at a healthy rate and we have great support from volunteers in donors at home around Frome and Shepton Mallet.”
The project was started with the help of money raised from a lock-in fundraiser at Shepton Mallet prison last year, which saw local MP David Warburton ‘behind bar’s for 24 hours.
“We were overwhelmed by the support for our lock-in fundraiser, and couldn’t have done this without people’s generosity,” Matt said.
“We started the Terreo Mission School with six pupils in January, and should have 20 by the end of next year. We work with organisations in some of the poorest areas to help children who are deemed to be most in need of the education, or most likely to make the most of it.
“There is good provision for early learning in South Africa, but once the children get past five years, there’s no real funding for their education. State schools where we work can have up to 150 pupils per class, so for many of them it isn’t worth going.”
SOS Africa now has 44 pupils aged between six and 18 in its projects. The charity recently celebrated one of its students, Mavis, passing her A-level equivalent exams, and graduating from high school. Mavis was the first pupil to graduate through the charity and has secured a scholarship for a business degree.
Matt continued, “The children definitely enjoy learning with us. We are really focussed on giving them a quality education and offering them all the opportunities children in the UK would get, and sometimes more!
“Our next aim is to get 20 children in each of the projects – we’d ultimately love to help hundreds of children in the future, but we’re still just scratching the surface at the moment.”
To find out more about the charity’s work and how you can get involved, visit www.sosafrica.com.
Above: SOS Africa’s Claudia and Matt with the new pupils of Terreo Mission School.
