Dalkeith children send 10,000 dinners to Zambia’s hungry children.
Photo Opportunity:
The presentation will take place in St. David’s Primary School, Lauder Road,
Dalkeith, EH22 2PU. at 2.00 pm on Wednesday 10th December 2003. Reporters and photographers welcome.

Copy and photographs will be available from ;

Joe McGrath, Development Secretary, MISSIO Scotland. joe@blueyonder.co.uk

Mobile 07980916968

Details:
Pupils of St. David’s primary school in Dalkeith today handed over a cheque for £1000 to The Missionary Children’s Society to pay for meals for orphan children in St. Charles Community Academy in Zambia. The children are fed a simple meal of fish or meat, maize porridge and beans. There is only enough money to feed the children on three days. We need to feed them every day and the pupils in Dalkeith have gone a long way to doing that.

St Charles Community School was set up in 2000 by Lazarus Kapaya, a youth worker in Solwezi Diocese, Zambia with a grant of £7000 from the Missionary Children’s Society. The project started as a feeding project for street children and developed into a school. It costs 10p per meal to feed children in St. Charles Academy.

The pupils of St David’s set up an enterprise company to enable pupils all over Scotland to benefit from their experience in setting up and operating a school council. They wrote and published a handbook for pupil councils. This sold at £5.00 per copy to schools from the northern isles to the borders.

The pupils have raised £1400 so far in sales. They will spend £400 on playground furniture but they wanted the bulk of their earnings to go to the children in Zambia.

Joe McGrath, Development Secretary of MISSIO Scotland said, “The pupils of St. David’s have shown the true spirit of Christmas in giving to others without expecting anything in return. They exemplify our motto ‘Children Helping Children’”.

Head teacher of St. David’s, Ann Marie Hepburn said, “The pupils of St. David’s have always made Scotland’s Missionary Children a priority in their charitable giving but this year they have reached new heights. They have shown what they are capable of when they turn their enterprise skills, developed in the school curriculum, to helping less fortunate children.”

Editor’s Notes:
The Missionary Children Society is a MISSIO Scotland Project.

MISSIO Scotland is the Scottish branch of the Pontifical Missionary Society of the Roman Catholic Church. The Missionary Children Society supports thousands of projects throughout 112 countries including Guatemala, Nigeria, Rwanda, India, Sri Lanka, The Philippines and Namibia.

The Missionary Children’s Society was started 160 years ago in 1843 in France. It is one of the oldest Third World charities still in operation.

The Missionary Children Society throughout the world gives 11 million pounds annually to third world projects. The children in Scotland gave £120,055 last year.


Statistics:

Seven percent of Zambia’s 1905000 households are headed by children aged 14 or under. (Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection www.jctr.org.zm

Eighty percent of Zambian families now live below the poverty line (60p per day) (World Bank 2002, www.worldbank.org/urban/upgrading/zambia )

Contact:
Joe McGrath at MISSIO as above or Mobile 07980 916968 j.oe@blueyonder.co.uk

MISSIO Scotland
St. Andrew’s, 4 Laird Street, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, ML5 3LJ

Tel/Fax 012136 449744 e-mail missio.Scotland@ukgateway.net

ENDS

Peter Kearney
Director
Catholic Media Office
5 St. Vincent Place
Glasgow
G1 2DH
0141 221 1168
pk@scmo.org
www.scmo.org