College team aims to transform lives in Kenya
Portadown College principal, Mr Simon Harper, back right, pictured with the school party who are off to Kenya. Included are back row from left, Stephen McDowell, teacher; Gary O'Reilly, Andrew Cinnamond, Stephen Conn and David Kennedy. Front from left, Ryan Calvert, matthew Goodland, Tom Hamilton, Christopher Wright and Mr Ian Flack, parent. INPT41-215.
A GROUP of students from Portadown College are travelling to Kenya next summer to take part in a major philanthropy programme.
Their objective will be to help improve local living standards, or the environment, in a meaningful and sustainable way.
The eight sixth-formers will be travelling to Chogoria at the foot of Mount Kenya where, with fundraising prior to travel, they will aim to pay for the installation of a well which will supply clean drinking water to thousands of people in that area.
Not only will they help to pay for the project, but they will get their hands dirty under the guidance of local workmen to actually install the well. This is a rare opportunity for local students to make a real difference to the lives of others in bringing the basic necessity of clean water to a third world community and to represent Portadown and their school positively abroad.
This visit is all the more impressive because it was the students themselves who approached College principal Simon Harper in the summer term with the idea of travelling to Kenya.
As a result of their enthusiasm and initiative, and under the guidance of Mr Stephen McDowell and Mr Ian Flack, the proposed trip is now a reality.
They will be travelling with World Expeditions to take part in a Community Project Travel Program (CPT) from June 25 to July 9, 2013.
Trips like this are expensive and require considerable fundraising but will provide tangible benefits for the local community in Chogoria who are in a dire economic predicament and receive little or no economic funding.
While the group are in Kenya they will undertake the trial of climbing Mount Kenya – the second highest mountain in the country standing at over 5,000 metres.
This extremely testing charity challenge is to help with the fundraising for the community project.
The boys are organising a wide range of money-raising activities, starting with a quiz at Portadown Golf Club on Friday, October 19, starting at 7.30pm.
Everyone is invited to get a team together and come along and enjoy a relaxing evening, and raise money for a worthwhile cause.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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