When you think sports, you don't always think sustainable heroes. With the help of the Wye Valley Zambia Project our members are taking the steps to ensure that they're doing all they can to be a more sustainble club.
Since 2006, the Wye Valley Zambia Project has been building links between local South Bucks schools and schools in Lusaka, Zambia. They aim to build a bridge between students from Zambia and the UK so that they can make friends and change lives through working together.
Lives have been changed in the UK as students learn about a different culture and students in Lusaka have realised that there are many things that they can do to improve the lives of those around them. Working together has meant that everybody bounces ideas off each other to come up with creative ways of solving problems and helping to improve the lives of students in schools in Lusaka.
Clothing is a big issue for students in Lusaka. Without a uniform, they cannot attend school but it doesn’t really matter what the uniform is. That's where local school in Bucks come in. Many of them, BNU included, have donated their old uniforms or team shirts to ensure that students in Lusaka have a uniform to wear.
Outside of the classroom it's great to see that sports is just as important in Lusaka as it is in Bucks. It’s good to be part of a team but difficult to join in if your team doesn’t have the same kit. A few years ago, a request came into the charity for some kit and whilst it was a little tight, the players were happy to receive it. In Lusaka, students often stay in school until their early 20s or until they have passed all the grades, so sending adult sized sports kit will make a big difference as it will enable teams to play together in kits that fit them. Football boots are always needed, often players will walk to the game barefoot so that the boots don’t get worn out.
When you next upgrade your perfectly good trainers, football boots or sports kit, instead of throwing them away to landfill, please bring them in to one of our Students' Union recpetions and donate them so we can pass them onto the charity and they can get further use out in Lusaka. This year our sports clubs recieved a new sports kit as we swapped to a more sustainale provider and our clubs donated their old kits to the Wye Valley Zambia project. At the moment all the kit is being stored whilst the charity fundraises to cover the costs of sending everything to Zambia.
If you would like to hear more about this charity, then pop down to our High Wycombe Students' Union and ask for Lesley, our Financial Manager, who is a trustee of the charity.