PUPILS at a Lichfield school have been helping to make a difference to the lives of young people in Africa.
The children from Streethay Primary School took up the 90kg Rice Challenge with Central Co-op.
The initiative sees enough bags of True Origin Kilombero rice purchased to send a young person in Malawi to secondary school for a year.
The product is sold in Central Co-op stores as part of the Lichfield retailer’s Our Malawi Partnership.
The students at Streethay Primary School managed to complete the challenge, purchasing a total of 103kg of rice, meaning a young person in the African nation – where primary eduction is free but secondary is not – will be able to continue their studies.
Jordan Whitehead, family support worker at Streethay Primary School, said:
“Working with Central Co-op on the rice challenge and other projects over the past few months has really allowed us to expand our sense of community.
“The children have really enjoyed the rice challenge – not only has it really appealed to their natural competitiveness, but the experience has encouraged learning opportunities and engagement with other communities in a real way.
“The children still reference the challenge weeks on and apply what they’ve learnt to their wider learning. This goes to show the impact the challenge has had on those in Malawi, but also here in Streethay too.”
The school was also visited by Howard Msukwa, a rice farmer from Malawi, in September as part of the initiative.
James Knight, member and community relations officer at Central Co-op, said:
“It was brilliant to hear some of the inventive ways the children used the rice. Some cooked – and I heard all about the tasty meals they made – while some donated it to their local foodbank to ensure they not only supported people in Malawi, but also helped local families here in Lichfield.
“Some even told me how they had created art with their rice, while one family made musical noise makers.
“The 90kg Rice Challenge is a great way to help educate our young people on what happens with food production in developing countries and how Our Malawi Partnership at Central Co-op is supporting farmers and the wider community in Malawi.”