Millfield pupils pick up the baton to help Ghana children’s charity

28 Mar 2018

Two Millfield Lower Sixth pupils are continuing to help a children’s charity in Ghana, after a Millfield pupil at the time, Olivia Allin, set up a clothing collection in 2015.

Cameron Baxter-Allen and Oska Zaky both visited the Kokrobite Chiltern Centre in Ghana last year, and have now been helping the charity by continuing the collection of clothes in every boarding and day house at Millfield. They have also been speaking at assemblies to raise awareness for the charity, encouraging their peers to donate unwanted clothing at the end of the summer term.

The children’s centre, which was started by Millfield English Language Holiday Courses Manager Jane Zohoungbogbo and her husband Martial in February 2004, supports children in the local fishing village of Kokrobite who were not attending school. It also helps to educate and empower the women of the community.

Since 2015, Jane has had a number of Millfield pupils help support the children’s charity with donations and volunteering with the support of Eric Jones, Assistant Head Co-curriculum.

Jane hopes that the clothing collection will raise awareness amongst Millfield pupils, and pique their interest in another culture and encourage them to visit or volunteer.

Jane says, “It’s a great initiative and one that makes a huge difference. The families we work with are on extremely low incomes and clothing is relatively expensive. We were delighted to have Oska and Cameron stay with us in October and hope to see more pupils at Millfield getting involved with the charity.”

Each year, Millfield pupils select a number of local and national charities to support. This year, the charities selected are: Forever Friends, Bath RUH and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Internationally, the school will continue to support the Lalibela High school in Ethiopia.