RAINBOWS4CHILDREN (UK) TRUST
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Mission Statement
Rainbows4children is an independent foundation set up in memory of Nicolas Robinson (son of the founder) and provides education for disadvantaged children in Ethiopia – primarily the children of adults with disabilities such as loss of limbs and blindness. 100% of donations go directly to the educational projects. This is made possible because all the administration work is carried out entirely by unpaid volunteers. The patron of Rainbows4children is the renowned BBC journalist, Michael Buerk.
About This Cause
Rainbows4children has chosen to support the children of parents with disabilities, resulting from war injuries or landmines. This group of people has set up a self-help organisation called the Tigray Disabled Veterans Association (TDVA). In cooperation with the TDVA, Rainbows4children has built and equipped the Nicolas Robinson School whose Kindergarten unit was opened in September 2005 with places for 240 children. The facilities include well-equipped classrooms, a staff room, a play area, an eating room and a small library. The Nicolas Primary School was opened in 2007 and further classrooms were added in subsequent years, enabling 640 children to study in grades 1 to 8. The Primary School also comprises a staff room, a science laboratory, as well as a library, music room and a multi-purpose sports field. The secondary school was built and opened in 2012 and now comprises 12 classrooms for 360 students in grades 9 to 12. There are four laboratories; chemistry, physics, biology and information technology. The secondary school facilities comprise a staff building, library, and sports facilities for foot-ball, basketball and athletics. We are proud to report that most of the students are achieving exceptionally good results in the Ethiopian national exams at grades 8, 10 and 12. The children complete their education in the Nicolas Robinson School at the end of grade 12 and then move on to further education or to vocational training. The high standard of teaching is achieved thanks to the dedication of the staff and their excellent work ethic, supported by training from our overseas volunteers. The Nicolas Robinson School has been recognised as the best school in the Tigray region for several years now, based on its high-quality teaching, as well as its facilities and management systems. Two of our students were awarded the International Baccalaureate at United World Colleges and went on to study in the US on full scholarships for their first degree. Two further students won full scholarships at the African Leadership Academy where they studied for ‘A’ levels. One of those students has since gone to study at university in the US and the other student was accepted to study for a degree at university in Japan. In the last two years, the Tigray region has suffered severe hardship, starting with Covid which disrupt-ed education in 2020. In response, school staff provided teaching materials to the students via their parents, who then returned classwork to the school for assessment. Our science teachers developed bleaches and hand sanitisers for school staff, families and local health centres. Soon after, the region’s farmers had to fight a plague of locusts which devastated their crops. The science staff went on to develop natural pesticides based on the neem tree, to kill and repel the locusts. They then went into the farming areas, with staff from Mekelle University, to spray the locusts that were destroying the harvest. Then, for 2 years the people of Tigray lived under siege without access to most of life’s essentials during a civil war. The Nicolas Robinson School has acted as a role model by leading and educating the local community in many activities. Our staff worked with the local Agriculture Bureau to create gardens and composts suitable for growing vegetables to feed our school children, and to teach the local community how to manage urban gardening. They have also worked with the teaching hospital of Mekelle University to develop care for malnourished children and to recognise nutrition-related diseases. by expanding our student sponsorship programme enabling more students to be supported at the school. Many children are still in need of sponsorship, es-pecially those from families, where both parents have a disability. This vital support helps to give every child a chance to learn, despite the family hardship. Sponsorship of CHF 500 per year enables a child from a poor family to be educated for one year and includes subsistence costs, school uniform and necessary school materials. All sponsors receive regular updates about their sponsored child’s progress. To date, 800 of the 1400 children at the school are sponsored. For many students, vocational training offers them a better choice of career options. To meet this need, Rainbows4children has created purpose-built technical training facilities on the Nicolas Robinson school campus.