This year Unicef’s campaign is called ‘Day for Change 2010’ and focuses on changing lives for children in Mozambique by improving their health and education.  So, if you’re not going to wear uniform on Friday 5 February, please bring in £1 for the privilege and help make the lives of these children better.

 

Why raise funds for education, health and well-being in Mozambique? 

Mozambique has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the world.  This means that one child in every six dies before they reach the age of 5.  Often these children die of diseases that could easily be prevented if they had been vaccinated.  But there are some diseases for which there is no vaccination.  One of the worse diseases in Mozambique – in fact across the whole of Africa – is malaria.  Of all the children who die before the age of 5, one in three dies from malaria.  Unicef is working with the Mozambique Government to provide mosquito nets which have been specially treated with insecticide.  These will be issued free to all families with children under the age of 5.  Four years ago, Unicef provided 65,000 of these nets.

Going to school is something we take for granted in this country, but in other countries such as Mozambique, children do not get this opportunity.  This may be because there is no school nearby, or the children have to work or simply because they are a girl.  Unicef is working in Mozambique to make sure that more and more children have access to a free primary school education.  They help build schools, recruit and train teachers and provide education supplies.  They also try to make sure that there is clean water for children and staff and separate toilet facilities for boys and girls in the schools.

We have some 1,250 students in this school and with staff contributions included, it is possible to raise a minimum of £1,400 for Unicef – let’s do it!!

For more information visit:  www.unicef.org.uk/dayforchange

Acknowledgement:  logo, information and images taken from above website