Local bank to host special African guests

Wednesday 06 May 2015

A Ugandan teacher and two of his pupils will be in the Island later this month to meet the bank workers helping to give hundreds of youngsters an education in a remote part of Africa.

Standard Bank’s staff in Jersey have raised thousands of pounds for Mifumi Primary School and sent out donated goods to help around 700 underprivileged boys and girls who go to the school.

The staff have also been helping local schoolchildren here get a better understanding of poverty across Africa and set up skype links between schools but they will soon get to meet students Moses Olam and Sylivia Adikini face to face as well as their Head Teacher Bernard Onyango.

Standard Bank’s Chief Operating Officer Matt Gorman said: “We’ve sent our staff over to Uganda for the last two years to get a proper understanding of how we can help the school.

“This year though, it seemed logical to bring representatives of the school to our island so that as many of our children and staff can meet them as possible. We have started to create the links between our schools and Mifumi through the installation of a satellite system so that Skype calls can now be made, but this really is one large step in building stronger relations between our communities.”

It will be first time the teacher and children have left Uganda and their visit will end with a big Gala Fundraising Dinner at the Pomme d’Or Hotel on 22 May. Guests will get to join them for a night of dancing, a charity raffle and auction and will be entertained by local rat pack singer Tony Gardiner.

A table of 10 at the dinner costs £600 – enough to put a child through secondary school in Eastern Uganda for pretty much the whole year.

You can find out more about the school and buy tickets for the dinner here.