Story
After four years hoping and planning, 9 sixth form students and 3 staff from The St Philip Howard Catholic High School are set to visit ES Kagogo, our partner school in north east Rwanda, in October 16.

We formed a link with ES Kagogo, in 2012. We welcomed headteacher Johnson Nsabimana to SPH in June and Alison Baker from SPH undertook the return visit in October. The Rwandan students begged Alison to take some SPH students with her on a subsequent visit and since then Alison has investigated the possibility of doing so.

Project work between the Rwandan and SPH students was set up and many letters exchanged. Two further headteachers from ES Kagogo visited us at SPH and Alison returned to Rwanda in October 2015.

The school has just under 500 students aged 12 to over 20. 15 teachers work with students in classes of over 50. The students board, sleeping in dormitories with over 100 students per room. The students are very bright and very hard-working, but many come from poor backgrounds and can barely afford the £30 a term charge. They will be delighted to welcome fellow students from the UK and develop their English speaking skills with them.

During the visit to SPH of Martin Nsengimana from ES Kagogo, it came to light that the school had no materials at all to allow students to express their artistic talent - no coloured pencils, water colours or felt pens. We sent Martin back with a suitcase full of such materials which were freely donated by students and staff. We also sent back sports equipment. The school has little in terms of ICT equipment, and we should like to support ICT learning by taking out items such as netbooks or tablet PCs.

Much progress has been made in Rwanda since the horrific events of 1994. We hope to play a part in the future progress of the young people of ES Kagogo. Your money will support our students' costs and buy equipment. Thank you for supporting our visit on behalf of the students of SPH and ES Kagogo!