The Pencil Case appeal, originally set up in March by the college’s student experience team and local charity The Peaceful (Uhuru) Trust, asked students to bring in unwanted pencils, note pads, rulers, books and games as well as reading books and jigsaws – all to help stock a newly-built classroom over 6,000 miles away.
The Peaceful Trust has shops in Mansfield, Mansfield Woodhouse and Nottingham which sell furniture and clothes and household equipment. Money raised in the shops goes to projects both at home and abroad, particularly in poor areas of Africa and Asia.
The school equipment has now been delivered to the Chanda School in the Mwape district of the Luangwa Valley of Zambia, courtesy of The Peaceful (Uhuru) Trust, which has been building the school since last June.
It is hoped that over 120 children will each be able to have their own pencil case with stationery ready for starting their classes later this year.
Students from the college gathered a vast array of books, pens and pencils which were recently collected by The Peaceful Trust’s trustee Charlene Burton-Betts, before being shipped to Zambia.
Student experience team leader Robert Pearce said: “It was fantastic to see the tables in the Students' Union full of donated items from staff and students across the college. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have the education we receive and it’s down to projects like this which help those less fortunate learn the basics of reading and writing.
“It’s wonderful to see the inspiration and happiness little gestures like this, which we take for granted, gives youngsters, teenagers and their parents in less-developed countries.”
Councillor Joyce Bosnjak, who works closely with the Trust, said: “I am so proud that a charity from Mansfield not only invests in our local communities, but also has the time to consider the needs of those less fortunate thousands of miles away.
“It’s great that our local college and students got on board with the Trust, showing just what we can achieve when we work together.”