Doncaster Rovers Education Foundation representatives have arrived safely in Mombasa as they embarked on their Rovers Go Wild charity project.
Their first morning’s itinerary included being introduced to the staff from Tumaini Timbwani school and meeting its pupils ranging from the excitable reception classes, right up to the high school group, who are the equivalent of Rovers BTEC Level 3 learners.
Education officer Adrian Turnpenny said “Each classroom we visited had an identical vibe; basic facilities and bare minimal teaching resources but classrooms rich with pupils bursting with enthusiasm and the desire to learn. It was amazing to see and their positive spirit is infectious, you can’t help but be moved by it.”
After the heart-warming welcome, lunch time soon arrived and the Rovers team, including 5 students from our own Education programme then turned their hand to helping the hard working kitchen staff.
Feeding over 400 pupils a day is a mammoth operation, especially given the limited resources the dedicated kitchen staff have at their disposal. Today lunch time was special; as it was the monthly occurrence of ‘meat-day’. Once a month, a generous UK donor subsidises the inclusion of meat during the school lunch.
Glyn Davies, Co-founder of the charity Education4Life said ‘Meat day is likely to be the only time the pupils eat meat and their regular diet is rice and beans. Being able to provide a one off monthly special lunch is not only important in providing a healthy diet, but is also excellent for moral of pupils and staff.”
This afternoon’s planned itinerary includes a walk around the local village where the Rovers team will get to see firsthand the deprived community the school is based in, followed by a pre-arranged meeting with the local Likoni football league administrators. Rovers will be handing over kit and equipment kindly donated by Rovers first, youth and Foundation teams.
Keep up to date with their progress on the official website or by taking a look at www.justgiving.com/rovergowild