30 August 2007
Oliver collects pens & pencils for Gambian children.
A young Welsh schoolboy called Oliver was so moved by seeing African children with no pens or pencils that he decided to make a special collection for them. His mother emailed us to say “my 7 year old son has been learning about children in Africa and India who are living in poverty. He came home and told me "that the children there did not have any pens and did not go to school" like himself. He has been very upset since and has asked if he could collect pens and donate them to children less fortunate. He has approached his headmaster who has agreed for him to collect pens in school. Can you advise me on who would be interested in receiving a shoe box full of pens.” His head teacher was very supportive, as was the local church, and we have just received a very large parcel containing over 1,350 pens and pencils collected by Oliver during his ‘campaign’. The photograph shows the assembled goodies after they had been unpacked and sorted, ready for sending to Gambian schools next term.
Oliver has also decided he would like to have a Gambian penfriend, so we will be taking his first letter to Abdoulie and a large batch of the pens and pencils to his school when we visit The Gambia in October. The rest will be packed in a container with school furniture, scout tents and other items that we will be sending out next month, their arrival timed (we hope!) to coincide with our visit.
We are taking this opportunity to say a public ‘Thank you’ to Oliver for his kindness in making this collection, and we hope that his letter to Abdoulie is the start of a long and happy friendship.
