This years Christmas Parade was a great success.  Accompanied by the Hampton Hill Traders Association, 1st Express, Shooting Star, the Hampton Hill Cricket Club and many more, including the Scouts and dogs in fancy dress, African Revival enjoyed a fantastic night on the 43rd parade of this kind. 

With support from the iconic Sean Blowers of BBC's London's Burning and the amazing African drummer Steven Kasamba of ACDArts.com, African Revival drew attention from thousands of onlookers as they mastered the Santa Conga.

The Parade was led by the wonderfully talented drummer, Steven Kasamba of ACD Arts, and the fantastically passionate local celebrity, Mr Sean Blowers

African Revival dressed for Christmas

The Elfs

Gervase Phinn, for many years a school inspector and writer, presents the Radio 4 Appeal for African Revival. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011297f/Radio_4_Appeal_African_Revival/

This week sees the start of a new initiative between AR and Cubu Primary School.

Cubu Primary has achieved so much over the 3 years that African Revival has been supporting the school and its community. In 2007, the school had no water source, just a few textbooks to share between almost 1000 pupils and not one pupil had ever sat exams to continue on to Secondary School. Headteacher Daniel is so happy with the school's development, "We now have a large fully stocked library, enough books and furniture for the whole school and a great sports and music equipment. Our parents, staff and management have really transformed since the training they have received from African Revival. We have infrastructure but our focus now is our performance."

Education week is all about increasing motivation amongst pupils, teachers and parents so that pupil performance is enhanced. AR Programme Officer Ayella Richard has been working closely with staff and pupils at Cubu Primary in setting up the motivational activity, "It is going to be a termly event that sees parents coming into the school throughout the week to observe their children in class, talk with teachers and see how they can become more involved in their child's education."

Whilst Richard was travelling around UK Schools leading African Revival educational workshops he was particularly impressed by the various pupil merit schemes that schools had put into practice. He brought the idea to Cubu Primary and they were very keen to work on this as part of their performance enhancement projects. Richard is working with the school to launch the merit scheme as part of Education Week, "We had a meeting with teachers to decide on what criteria our children will be rewarded - from their behaviour, academic performance, and involvement in extra curricular activities, as well as those who show great improvement." Each term, there will be a prize giving ceremony where pupils will receive prizes such as books and pens, as well as salt, sugar and soap to bring home to help their families.

Educational development is much more than building classrooms and supplying text books. In order to improve the quality of education in our schools we are working closely with pupils, teachers and parents to help change attitudes and enhance skills.

We are still seeing donations and support rolling in for the Zambia Bike Challenge 2011 along with an increasing amount of press coverage.

This article for the Crawley Observer talks all about Ed Spencer's fundraising and sponsorship from ManFrotto

view a PDF of the article here

Thanks also to luxury travel company Africa Odyssey for supporting our riders and pledging their support for future online activities.

So far the Bike Challenge Team have raised more than £45,000 and counting!

You can also view some photos of the Zambia Bike Challenge 2011

Our Team of Amazing Cyclists Made It!

After months of preparation, hard training and serious fundraising, 30 intrepid British cyclists arrived in Kalomo on Wednesday night this week. This was the 4^th day of a 5-day challenge to cycle from Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to Livingstone to raise money for African Revival's projects.

Whilst in Kalomo, the team visited Lubombo and Kinnertone Community Schools, where they were able to walk around and see for themselves the work that African Revival is doing with the local schools and communities.

They also talked to pupils and teachers, and there was even an impromptu game of volleyball using new balls that were donated by the cyclists.

The cycle challenge takes place every year and the money raised goes directly to AR's projects on the ground. If you fancy taking part in next year's challenge, contact our UK office for more information.

- AR Zambia

Renowned best selling children's book author Gervase Phinn will be presenting the African Revival Appeal to the nation on BBC Radio 4, starting this weekend, asking for your kind support. A former school's inspector, Gervase has spent most of his career working with children and teachers and understands all too well the power of education. His own humble background, and the difference education has made to him, has inspired him to present the appeal for African Revival.

Our UK fundraising team joined him in the studio recently and he explained why he has chosen to support us in the work that we do...

Your generous donation will be going to several projects set up in Zambia, Uganda and Sudan to give children access to education, opportunity and choice.

Make sure that you don't miss the appeal! It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (online or LW and FM across the UK) at the following times: Sunday 15th May at 07.55 and 21:26 then again on Thursday 19th May at 15:27.

Last year, listeners raised over £1.5 million for BBC Radio 4 appeals. For more information about the appeal please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnc7

If you just can't wait for the appeal, then you can donate now!

Out in Zambia, we're pleased to announce that work has begun on the latest project at Inkumbi Basic School - a new 1x3 classroom block! The building will have 3 classrooms, separated by 2 smaller rooms that may be used as staff offices or storerooms.

The block is being built on the site of an old double classroom building, which had become so dilapidated that it was becoming a danger to use. It was torn down by the local community a few weeks ago and four of AR's expert builders are now preparing the foundations for the new classrooms.

[crowded classroom at Inkumbi]

The original bricks from the old building have been salvaged, as have some of the iron sheets from the roof and we'll be able to use them again. This means that the overall cost of building the new block will not be as high as if we had had to buy all new materials.

Of course, whilst the block is being built, teachers at Inkumbi are having to find alternative spaces to teach their classes. Some are being held outside under the trees, whilst others are sometimes combined so that two grades use a classroom at the same time. This can mean things get quite crowded, but it is only temporary and we hope it will be worth it when the 3 brand new classrooms are ready later this year!

[site where the new classrooms will be constructed]

Mark Mene has 12 years experience providing training, fitness and lifestyle coaching for elite athletes.

As part of his fundraiing for our Zambia Bike Challenge, Mark is offering 10 FREE personal training sessions for the lucky winner of our raffle.

Entries are just £5 and you can enter quickly and securely online at http://www.justgiving.com/MARK-MENE0. The more you donate, the higher your chance of winning this fantastic prize, so please dig deep today!

Remember,everything you donate supports our vital work providing children with access to education, opportunity and choice, meaning everyone really is a winner.

Over 20 years of conflict in the Northern region of Uganda caused around 1.8 million people (80 % of the population) to flee their homes and move to Internally Displaced People's (IDP) Camps. This displacement has had huge implications for schools and education in the northern region. Many schools were left deserted and pupils crammed into 'safe schools' that were located near to IDP camps whilst others received no education at all. Although the region has remained peaceful for over 5 years now, some schools have still not moved back to their original communities despite community members returning to their villages to rebuild their livelihoods.

Since 2006, African Revival has moved 5 primary and 2 secondary schools back to their original sites. This month saw the move of Maro Awobi Primary School from Pabo, an IDP camp with a population of over 70,000, back to the school's original site in the village of Maro Awobi, 14km away.

Maro Awobi Primary School was founded by parents in 1998 and became a government school 4 years later. In 2003, rebel soldiers attacked Maro Awobi, torching homes, abducting children and killing many people. Community members got their families together and fled to Pabo IDP Camp.  After a short closure, the school was displaced in temporary classrooms at Agole P7 School and stayed there for 7 years.

In February 2010 African Revival travelled to Pabo and found teachers packing the last load of furniture and books into a large truck. As we travelled with the truck to the original site, excited community members lined the dirt road and many children chased the truck up a track to the school. Isaac, Chairman of the School Management Committee was also in this crowd, "We are so happy. Our children are back with us." Primary schools in rural Uganda act as a hub for the community so Maro Awobi feels whole again. The head teacher also explained what impact the move will have on the pupils, "the pupils are now close to their homes. They can now eat at lunchtimes and have a short journey back to their parents in the evening. They are safe". Many pupils were living far from their parents but now the school has moved back, families have been reunited and children are now living with their parents.

One year on and a lot has changed. Newly appointed headteacher David Komakech has been so impressed with the community's cooperation with the school, "Since I arrived at Maro Awobi, parents have built housing for all of our 7 teachers, entirely at their own cost in addition to the 6 grass thatched classrooms that they constructed last year." David explained that their hard work and enthusiasm comes as a result of the support of African Revival, "You know when a friend offers their hand to you, it really motivates you to work even harder than you normally would."

When African Revival first reached the school's site, it was just an overgrown field. The community transformed the site in just a few weeks by clearing the land and building 6 temporary classrooms. We noticed, however, that sanitation facilities were a major priority and built 8 latrines and drilled a borehole, as a clean safe water source. The school has received text books and office furniture and is shaping into what a good school should look like.

The school has made real use of their 70 acres of land; African Revival has constructed a sports pitch and, with the help of the community, is about to start working on demonstration gardens as part of our EU funded 'Farmers of the Future' Project.

Maro Awobi staff and pupils are extremely excited that our contractors are just one week away from finishing the construction of 3 classrooms, as well as an office and a large store room. Take a look at our photos of the builders putting the finishing touches to the well needed classrooms!

Mayor of Richmond hosts African Revival's website launch

After many months of work and preparation, African Revival launched our website on the 3^rd March. Our event was kindly hosted by the Mayor of Richmond, Cllr David Marlow.

We were so lucky to welcome so many new supporters through the doors, and guests were wowed by entertainment provided by the Afro Caribbean Society at Imperial College, who have selected us as their chosen charity this year.

In the heart of Hampton Hill something amazing is going on. Our small but effective charity is reaching out to children in some of the remotest areas of Zambia, Uganda and Sudan. By building schools training teachers, overcoming barriers to education and supporting communities and parents we are ensuring that for thousands of children every day is a school day. Thanks to us and to the inspirational communities we work with, once derelict classrooms are now safe and dry, children sitting on the floor now have the dignity of a desk and chair, and teachers actually have resources like text books and blackboards.

It goes much further than that though. There's no point investing in infrastructure and resources without also investing in the people who will drive their schools forward. So we train teachers and support them with housing and salaries. We address barriers to education, and most importantly we work with parents and small rural communities to build their capacity to secure the future of their children's education. That means helping them to set up community savings schemes, encouraging them to appreciate the value of education, and training them in simple management techniques such as budgeting and monitoring, so  that they have the skills they need to ensure their schools are accountable.

So why is this website so important for us? Well, because it enables us to tell the world about what we're doing at the touch of a button. African Revival isn't a large organisation. We don't believe in spending lots of money on expensive publicity and advertising. Thanks to Digital Potion, who have spent months building our site absolutely free of charge, we now have the ability to communicate with all of you in cyberspace every time we have exciting news to share!

Our charity is only 5 years old but we have already touched the lives of 250,000 people in the world's poorest continent. Watch this space and follow us online - this year we intend to do more than ever before...