Welcome to our page and thank you for visiting!

We are fundraising to help build two new classrooms and a toilet block for a school in Rwanda. Once we have fundraised, we will be travelling to Rwanda to actually help with the building (however just to make clear we are self-funding our flights and accommodation).

Why we are doing this? For many the thought that comes to mind when thinking of Rwanda is the 1990s civil war and genocide which tore the country apart (up to one million people were killed - one in every five people in the country). 

In the past decades despite massive progress in uniting and rebuilding the country, access to education and low literacy levels remain huge barriers for those living in poverty in Rwanda (63% of the population live below the poverty line on less than $1.25 a day). Lack of funding means that there is an urgent need for new classrooms and toilet facilities.

Positively numbers of students increase annually, but classrooms are crowded beyond what we can image in the UK with an average of 62 students for every qualified teacher. As you would expect children struggle to concentrate and learn. Building new classrooms and a toilet block will help children to achieve their potential and prevent students dropping out from education.

As Nelson Mandela famously said: ‘’Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  Please help us take a small step towards breaking the cycle of poverty that continues.

To fund the project, we have pledged to raise a total of £4,400 but we can’t do it alone. Any contribution big or small will make a difference to the lives of so many.

We will be doing lots of different fundraising activities including: 

a. Cycling 105 miles over 3 days in the last week of April 2022. Why 105 miles? I (Joy) was off work for 5 months in 2021 with what the Dr diagnosed as long covid. As well as raising money to build a classroom, we wanted to encourage long covid sufferers that, although it can be a slow and challenging journey for sure, life can, for some, return to normal. Hence, we decided to cycle 5 miles for every full week of work I missed.

b. We are hosting a talk given by Aaron Phipps (poster below). Aaron is a Gold medal winning Paralympic champion who has scaled Kilimanjaro on his hands and knees! His message is one of determination, endurance, perseverance and energy.

We would appreciate anything you can give to help us.

Thank you for your support.

Joy and Jazz xx