Keynsham scouts aim to make a difference
By Keynsham People | Thursday, August 06, 2009, 07:00
A group of Explorer Scouts from Keynsham have travelled to Malawi to work on aid projects in one of the poorest parts of the country.
In all 45 young men and women, aged 15 to 18, from the Keynsham Explorer Scout Unit, together with their leaders, are in southern Malawi in east Africa to undertake projects to help 150 orphaned and vulnerable children.
The projects include renovating schoolrooms, creating a parent shelter at a clinic, teaching English and organising sports events.
Before they left for Malawi, Keynsham Explorer leader Ian Carter said: "The young people are undertaking this project to help children to have better access to education, which in turn offers them a greater chance to earn a living and help support their families.
"At the same time, members of the team recognise that it will contribute to their own personal development. Their aim is to make this a life-changing experience for some of the deprived children of Malawi as well as for themselves. It's not a holiday, but a personal challenge."
The community which the Explorers are supporting suffers from poverty, rising HIV/AIDS rates, a lack of clean water, minimal health and education facilities and poor infrastructure. The youngsters have paid their travel costs, and raised more than £25,000 through events and sponsorship to facilitate the project work.
Comments
Great to see young kids doing such worthwhile things, and thinking about something other than their ipods and x-boxes. Especially for raising so much money for the project. I think too many kids over here have it so easy that a trip like this will really bring it home to them how lucky they actually are and how much other people in some parts of the world struggle just to get by day to day.
By Tony_r1 at 13:45 on 06/08/09
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