Cranleigh and Kawama School Milestone Celebrations

Over 250 staff and students at Cranleigh School have now visited Zambia and have been privileged to witness the development of Kawama Community School and the impact it’s had on the community around it. One member of staff on our most recent trip, who had been on our very first visit back in 2011, was moved to tears to see the transformation that had taken place. I know what an impact these visits can have on young people. It stirs something in them. Maybe they have never considered what poverty really is or means, and for the first time they see that it is almost never self inflicted, that people who are poor lack opportunity and when they do have employment, often work longer hours and in more challenging conditions than most of us will ever experience. Some start to consider the tricky issues such as the role of wealthy countries in contributing to poverty and dependency and how to promote sustainability. Beyond Ourselves encourages all the students who visit the partnerships in Zambia to push themselves in their thinking and to move out of their comfort zone. We want this to be a lifelong journey, one that will enrich and inform people’s lives, one that will make those who have had this fantastic opportunity be more open and questioning and, ultimately, affect how they treat others and how they choose to lead their lives.

Cranleigh School will be celebrating this ‘250’ milestone on Saturday December 16th at a Zambia Celebration Charity Night. If you’d like to hear more about this, please get in touch becs@beyondourselves.co.uk

Becs Gibson
Beyond Oursleves School Partnership co-ordinator and Cranleigh School teacher.