Christmas comes early for collection

Encouraged by childcare tutor, Gemma Kybert - who has been involved with community projects in Zambia for the past ten years - the group, who all study on the Level 3 CACHE Diploma, collected enough items to fill eighteen shoeboxes, which have now been shipped to Africa.

Items including teddy bears, toys, stationery, jewellery, toiletries, stickers and sweets were collected by the students, who had each chosen to create an age-specific gift for a boy or girl. The shoeboxes, which were donated by Wisdom Sports in Haywards Heath, were then wrapped in Christmas paper and labelled.

Student Maddi Longhurst, who is 17 and lives in Haywards Heath explained: “It’s very rewarding to be given the opportunity to help children less fortunate than we are and we’ve all been really touched by this experience.”

Jess Jones, 16, from Handcross, agreed saying: “I feel privileged to have such a comfortable life and so it was nice to be able to feel like I was sharing some of my privilege with people who have very little.”

Eighteen-year-old Kay Porter, from Burges Hill added: “I feel lucky to have been given this chance to give something back to the community in Zambia.”

Each shoebox also contained hand-written notes from its sender, and the students are hopeful that some of them might get replies after the children receive their gifts.

Rebecca Smith, 17, from Bolney, said: “I chose to make my box suitable for a little girl aged 5. I really enjoyed collecting things that I thought she might like and I included toys and a necklace as well as some everyday items which I she might appreciate more than a five-year-old in the UK would. I’d love to hear from her!”

Chloe Hartfield, 17, from Burgess Hill is also hoping to get a reply from the seven-year-old girl who opens her present on Christmas Day. “It would be amazing if she wrote back to me,” Chloe said, adding: “As childcare students, we’ve all enjoyed this project and it’s made us think about how lucky the children we will be working with really are. We’d all like to do it again next year and it would be even better to visit them in person.”

Tutor, Gemma, was delighted with the students’ response to the project and will be looking to start a collection for Christmas 2014 later in the year.

To find out more about Childcare courses offered at Central Sussex College’s Sixth Form Haywards Heath, visit: www.centralsussex.ac.uk