We know that our education support programme makes a big difference. Let us tell you Esnart's story. Esnart is one of our sponsored students. She comes from an economically challenged background and family. She aspires to be a nurse. Esnart's day starts very early when she does her household chores. She then walks one and a half hours to school, sometimes more. School starts at 7am and when she is late she is punished - often by performing school chores and cleaning tasks. By the end of her day following another long walk home she is really tired. Imagine adding to that a day without food. But, she is committed and she gets to school no matter what. The bike was a recent surprise - we could only afford one bike and Esnart was the most in need. She was overwhelmed with joy.

This programme has faced inflationary costs across almost all budget lines this year of 30% to 100%. Our Maize support has cost us double compared to the year before. Harvests have been poor. In 2023 it was cyclone freddy and this year it has been poor rains. With these cost increases we are facing losing 34 places from our programme - currently 100.

This appeal is to help us to purchase maize early before prices go even higher in September and maintain our student numbers.