Horizon Children's Programme

Welcome to the Horizon Children's Programme (HCP) Website

Books are the basic tools of education, yet millions of children across Africa have never owned a book nor have access to books Books are the basic tools of education, yet millions of children across Africa have never owned a book nor have access to books.

In some of the poorest countries in Africa up to 90% of primary schools lack functioning libraries.

Up to 70% of secondary school children do not have access to textbook supplies.

Many of these countries are either going through conflict or recovering from conflict, for instance Sierra Leone, one of the countries HCP currently works with, is recovering from a ten-year armed conflict that left thousands dead, maimed and raped.

Among the suffering were thousands of school children who saw their schools looted and burnt down.

Horizon Children’s Programme (HCP) works to make education a reality for disadvantaged children in the poorest parts of Africa . Established in 2003 HCP provides vital educational materials and facilities for schools and local organisations that care for young children.

Pupils at Thomas Peters Municipal school with their donations

HCP donates to four primary schools in Sierra Leone

Nafisa has recently returned from Sierra Leone after a week visit to oversee the distribution of educational materials shipped to Freetown in April. She arrived on 15th May and went on the road on 17th May as she spent a day travelling from one end of the country to the other making the donations.
She says her most notable observation this time was the overcrowded classrooms - she counted a classroom of 68 pupils in one of the schools. She also noted that many of the classrooms had no desks (children were having to use their laps), teachers complained of not having the basicmaterials to teach the children, and of being poorly paid (the average salary for primary school teacher is two hundred thousand leone per month (around £40).
More in our next newsletter (subscribe for free now).

A Headteacher being presented with Supplementary books another beneficiary Nafisa making more donations at Songo Village Primary school
Some beneficiaries Nafisa and Edline packing the box to send to Sierra Leone A classroom of 68 pupils

Mobile library

In January 2005 HCP set up a library for ex-child combatants and other war affected children in Freetown (click on newsletter for more information).

This year we are going mobile - setting up a mobile library/resource centre for the benefit of village primary schools in rural Sierra Leone. Equipped with essential teaching and learning materials, the mobile library will visit far flung towns and villages, and would have 2 volunteer teachers on board to help sensitize teachers and parents to help their children develop healthy reading habits (go to the current projects page for more details).

So please join us on board our mobile venture by making a donation today - DONATE NOW

Annual Sponsored Walk

Yet another successful 10km sponsored walk . This year 18 individuals walked to raise money for Horizon Children's Programme, including five schoolchildren. We can safely say that with the monies collected so far, we have doubled last year's total. Approximately £1,280 has been raised with more still to come.
A huge thank you to all our walkers, and we all look forward to doing it again next year.
Please tell your friends and family about it, and if you know anyone who is interested please let us know as we are already compiling a list of participants for the nexr walk.
Well done and thank you!

Book Sale

We will be holding a book sale on Saturday 12th August 2006, 9am—1pm at:
The United Reformed Church,
Bridge Street,
Godalming,
Surrey.

Various books for sale (including collectors books).

Please contact Nafisa or Edline if you require further details

Beneficiaries in the library set up by the Horizon Children's Programme (HCP) in Freetown

Shoeboxes

A big 'thank you' to those who donated various items for the shoe boxes, we could not send them in December as we did not have enough to send, but we are fast approaching our targets and we are aiming to send out a shipment at Christmas.
If you wish to donate some items to be included in these shoe boxes for our younger beneficiaries aged between 5 and 8, in Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe please contact Nafisa or Edline for further details

Computers, computers, computers!

A big Thank you also to those who donated the Computers for the school in Zimbabwe.
Transporting them is the biggest challenge we have faced since the Charity was established. Zimbabwe is landlocked, and so we have limited means of sending the computers. We had hoped that Air Zimbabwe would help, but due to the financial upheavals in Zimbabwe, they have informed us that they cannot afford to help this time.

We have now found someone who can service them and also someone to ship them for us, and we aim to send some over in September in time for the new school year.

We are still looking for Computers for the Mobile Library and other projects of cause, so if you have any ideas, or wish to donate your old computer we would be grateful for your help - please contact Nafisa or Edline

Talks to Community Groups and schools

We give talks to primary schools and community groups on various cultural / educational issues in Africa.
If your school would like to teach your children about Africa (during the schools International Week or Comic Relief week for example), please contact Nafisa or Edline

Donated books

Please note that lots of the books donated to the charity are not appropriate for our beneficiaries, we would like to inform our supporters and donors that these books would be sold to raise funds for the charity.