Northwood College girls raise over £5,200 for villagers in Tanzania

From the start of the Summer term, Northwood College for Girls pupils were given the unique opportunity to truly change lives and futures by collaborating with the Better Lives Foundation.  

Better Lives’ key objective is to create support structures designed to better both the health and the education of people living in developing countries.

The girls’ challenge was to ‘travel’ from Northwood College to a small village in Tanzania called Kiwitwi – a total of 7208km! Students set about running, climbing, throwing and swimming the huge distance and their outstanding dedication and commitment has resulted in them raising over £5,251!

Year 6’s Asiyah Merali Dewji commented: “There were fundraising clubs taking place every day at either 7.45am, lunch time or after school, and it took a lot of commitment to sacrifice our precious sleep that we all love, but it’s the least we could do for those who are in need.”

Gill Perry, a representative of ‘Better Lives’ visited Northwood College to tell the girls about the huge difference that their money will be making to the villagers in Tanzania. 

Gill reported that over 1,700 students from three different schools will be benefitting from an advanced water supply with improvements being established, such as: wells, pumps, distribution pipes and taps. 

In turn, these developments will help to supply essential health improvement facilities, such as, hand wash basins and toilets; and ultimately contribute towards the improvement of the student’s education and futures by reducing the spread of germs and illnesses.

Northwood’s donation will also go towards setting up a School Farm, where crops will be grown to provide fresh and healthy breakfast for the students. This is one of the girls proudest achievements, as the sustainability of the farm means that their hard efforts will remain beneficial to the students for years to come.

Ms Rebecca Perry, comments: “Covering the 7208km was a huge challenge for the girls, but it has been a prime example of what our students can achieve with sheer determination and hard work. The way the girls have worked together to bring the best out of each other is inspirational.”

The presentation ended with the girls discussing what their contribution towards the charity meant to them, and when asked to sum up their experience in four words they mutually agreed upon: “Commitment, Motivation, Resilience and Teamwork” – essential life skills that the school is proud of its girls for displaying during this challenging, yet highly rewarding, project.