Bag2School collections begin

At Derby Grammar School we’re raising money for our PTA and Tanzania project with a Bag2School collection on Friday 14 May.

Bag2School are collecting between 9am and 1pm on Friday 14 May, so we would ask all donations to be delivered by Thursday 13 May. To be COVID secure, this time we are asking parents to place any items into bin bags or plastic bags to donate.

Our Tanzania Project supports Gedeli B School, located in Mwanza, Tanzania. It has around 1300 children at the school aged between 7 and 14 completing their equivalent of our ‘primary’ education. Few move on to secondary education.

Back in 2013 when we first visited, there was an average of 270 children per class. They had nothing: no water, no electricity, no educational equipment, no text books, no sports equipment and five drop toilets without water.

Since 2013 we have raised over £90,000 – smashing our original target of raising £50,000 in 10 years.

This has enabled us to:

• build five classrooms, one of which is a special needs classroom
• install electricity and running water in to the original five classrooms
• build two toilet blocks with cesspits and running water
• supply classroom equipment including tables, chairs, display boards and textbooks as well as maths, science and general teaching resources
• supply specific resources for the children with special needs, including braille machines and laptops
• provide sanitary items for the school’s older girls.
• create a sports area in the school grounds, and provide equipment for sports
• supply a laptop, printer and a photocopying machine
• supply every child with school books, pens and pencils
• install a 10,000 litre water tower so the children have access to water every day.

The impact is incredible. Just some examples are:

• by providing clean water there has been a 70% drop in dysentery, and due to this, a significant increase in school attendance.
• Through the provision of sanitary products for the young girls there has been an increase in attendance and a reduction in infections.
• DGS pupils give lessons on sex education: puberty, menstruation, safe sex and consent. These are subjects that have previously never been discussed within the school and are helping to change outdated perspectives.
• The building of the Special Needs classroom provides a safe haven for children that are otherwise often abandoned.

This Bag2School donation is a perfect time to get rid of all those clothes children have grown out of in lockdown! Find out more about Bag2School and to look at what we’re looking to collect, please click here.