Percol’s Children in Africa

This is Percol’s initiative to help improve the lives of children in Africa. For every pack of Percol Fairtrade African Ethiopia ground coffee (available from Waitrose) sold, Percol will donate 6p to a chosen charity working in Africa on school building, healthcare or educational projects.

For the first project, Percol has teamed up with Building Schools for Africa to help build a much needed school in Cameroon.

Current Project: School Building in Cameroon, Africa

Percol (with your help) has already raised £11 000 and needs to raise just £1000 more. (17th June 2010)

The Buh School Project Fund Meter

Building Schools for Africa is a UK registered charity whose aim is to help build schools in rural Africa. It works with transparent local NGOs that have close links with local communities. For more details on Building Schools for Africa, please visit www.schoolsforafrica.co.uk.

The current situation in Buh

Buh village has had a school since 1992, but it’s very rundown and overcrowded. The school has dirt floors so during the dry season, the classroom turns into a dust bowl; then in the rainy season, the floor turns to mud as rain comes pouring through the holes in the roof. The water supply to the school is erratic, so during the dry season precious learning hours are wasted on collecting drinking water from the nearby stream.

How Percol will Help

Building is scheduled to start in December 2010 with the help and commitment of the local community and will take about 3 months to complete. Three classrooms and a toilet block will be built. Proper hygiene will mean the prevention of many illnesses. A constant source of drinking water will be put in place so the children’s studies will not be interrupted by water collection.

Some of the funds will go to the development of a vegetable garden which will be looked after by the children, teaching them sustainable organic food growing techniques which the children then pass onto their parents. The vegetables will be sold to the community to raise funds for the school.

Buh Community

The villagers will provide labour and natural building materials that can be accessed locally, such as sand and wood.

Some funds will go into a micro-credit programme. A small amount of credit is awarded to the women of the community to help them set up ‘cottage industry’ projects. In return, they must agree to help maintain the new school. Once built, regular checks are made on the school to make sure it is running smoothly and also to help and advise the school staff.