School in a Bag is a local charity based in Chilthorne Domer near Yeovil, the strapline for which is “Transforming lives through education”.
Luke explained the history of the charity, starting with the tragic death of his elder brother in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. This initially inspired Luke to set up a charity, the Piers Simon Appeal (PSA), in his brother’s name, funded initially by some life insurance policies which his brother had taken out.
The initial purpose of the charity was, through the use of small in country organisations with low overheads, to provide aid to communities suffering natural disasters. The PSA teamed up with Shelterbox, a disaster relief charity, to provide educational equipment to orphan children in Swaziland.
This became so successful that a separate charity was born, namely, School in a Bag.
Luke showed us where bags have been distributed – in 53 countries. He explained that he works with individuals in each country who are carefully vetted. Some of the bags are packed in the UK and others are procured and packed in country.
The bags delivered from the UK are bright red and each is numbered so it can be tracked by the person sponsoring it, thus giving full transparency. Some of the bags made and packed in country are called trashy bags. This is because they are made from discarded plastic water pouches which litter many of the roads.
All bags contain books to write and draw in, a ruler, maths set with rubber, 12 pencils (many countries provide children with one pencil which has to last the whole year), crayons, hygiene kit, food container and spork (a combined spoon, fork and knife).
Luke also explained that girls in some countries do not have access to sanitary wear for their periods. He has found a group of people in Yeovil who make reusable sanitary pads with a bag to hold them. These are sent separately with instructions for use (some girls do not know how to use these products).
In The Gambia, School in a Bag has worked with at least one school which was described as being a good school because it does not leak when it rains and has some good teachers. However, before the children got their rucksacks with the equipment in, they had nothing to write with or on and no way to draw. The number of children passing the exams to allow them to go on to secondary education increased from 7 to 30 (the whole class) in the year when the bags were delivered.
Luke was a riveting speaker delivering an inspirational talk – thank you, Luke.
Hilary Smith