Louise Scott has been to many parts of the world, but there haven鈥檛 been many as memorable as mini传媒 in Tanzania.
Her latest travels brought her from Australia, to Wimbledon and onto Africa with her partner George Spring and his daughter Isabella, and the group could not contain their surprise at what they found inside the school gates.
St Jude鈥檚 opened in 2002 with one volunteer teacher and three students. It now provides a free, high-quality education to almost 2000 of the region鈥檚 poorest yet brightest students, and this year celebrated its first graduating Form 6 class.
Visitors like Ms Scott, who hails from Bournemouth but has lived in Australia for the past seven years, can enjoy various activities and even stay overnight.
鈥淔rom the minute we got on the bus to the moment we got off, (the students) sung songs to us the whole way,鈥� she said.
鈥淭hey were so happy, and singing about, you know, how they wanted to be a pilot through education, or a teacher through education, or a doctor through education.
鈥淵ou look at kids in the Western world today, and then you see these kids who are happy, enthusiastic, and have amazing attitudes, and then you watch where they get off the bus鈥� It鈥檚 confronting, and makes you realize how totally life-changing St Jude鈥檚 is to these kids. They have nothing, absolutely nothing, and they can come here and they鈥檙e going to get an education when they never would have had that opportunity in a million years otherwise, so it鈥檚 really great.鈥�
After climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Louise and her group spent two nights at St Jude鈥檚 before she headed to a nearby town to volunteer at a farm. Louise said the school visit was particularly special as they had a chance to meet the student George鈥檚 parents sponsor.
鈥淚t was lovely to meet the kids, they were gorgeous. I don鈥檛 know if (George鈥檚 parents) will ever make it over to Tanzania, but for them just to know how their student is going will mean a lot,鈥� she said with a smile.Ms Scott said visiting a developing country was particularly reassuring as they could see for themselves where donations were going.
鈥淭he wonderful thing about St Jude鈥檚, from our perspective, is that you know your money is going to the children,鈥� she said.
鈥淵ou can come and see that this money鈥檚 going to the children.
鈥淔rom the fact that they get fed three meals a day, which they probably wouldn鈥檛 get at home, they get an education and the teachers genuinely, really care about what they do. If you want to do something to put money into charity, doing it here means you know it is going to something that鈥檚 going to make a difference.鈥�
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