Select a region
Used Grammar School and La Mare de Carteret High School uniforms will be donated to the charities to help students in two different countries around the world, following an agreement between the Transforming Education Programme and the charity.
The uniforms were collected over the summer, as the new Les Varendes High School uniform has been rolled out. They are being donated to the Tumaini Fund and the Friends of Romania, Guernsey.
The Tumaini Funds supplies AIDS orphans in Tanzania with a school uniform, books and pencils, and everyone in the household gets two sets of clothes and a life-saving mosquito net. Providing education is one of the key goals of the Fund, which has been a Guernsey charity since 2003.
PE Kits, blazers, trousers, jumpers and more have all been brought together to be donated to school children in Tanzania - which is one of the 10 poorest countries in the world – to ensure they are put toward a good cause, rather than being wasted.
Friends of Romania, Guernsey work with a sister charity in Romania called Tabita 96 which will allocate the uniforms out to students who need them, also helping them attend school.
Dr Susan Wilson, Chair of the Tumaini Fund, met with students at La Mare de Carteret High School in September to talk to them about the impact the donations would make.
Dr Wilson said: “Education is essential for the future of children living in poverty in countries like Tanzania; without it they will not be able to break out of the cycle they are in. And while primary education is free in Tanzania, students are required to buy their own school uniforms, and when the average income per family is only £70, that can be a huge burden. Most children simply can’t afford what they need. That is why donations like this, while they may seem simple on the surface, will make a huge
difference. The number of uniforms donated by the Education Committee will directly impact the lives of so many, and I am very grateful for this support to our work.”
Patricia Holland from Friends of Romania said: “The Friends of Romania were delighted to receive the donations of items of clothing from the Grammar School and La Mare De Carteret High School. They were sorted and packed over this recent weekend and now await the long journey to Bistrita in Romania. Our next journey is at the end of October and the following one is in April 2025. Our grateful thanks to the team and the students and their parents for the thinking, hard work and efficient organisation that made this project possible. In Romanian "Multsumesc"- thank you very much!"
The uniform donation scheme was led by the New School Design Team – a team of students from Les Varendes High and from La Mare de Carteret High, and teachers from each – which created posters advertising the donation collection points and helped talk about the benefits to other students.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said: “While we are very excited to now be seeing the new Les Varendes High School uniforms in our schools, the Committee was very conscious when it embarked on this piece of work that it did not want the old Grammar School and La Mare uniforms to be wasted. Thanks to this agreement with the Tumaini Fund and Friends of Romania, I am sure that will not be the case. I am so pleased that these donations will have such an impact, and that we have been able to support this important overseas work that has been taking place for many years. Thank you to them for their hard and important work.”
