As you will have read elsewhere in these pages, the University does have a very serious obligation and that is to generate funds to sponsor the education of young people in the developing world. On this page you will be able to read about the work that is being carried out overseas as a direct result of the sponsorship and donations that you so generously make. We are not able to bring you reports from all our foreign exploits but over the coming months we will be giving coverage to all our projects.
The Indian School Then and Now by Prema
Here is Prema's first hand account of how the Anton tuition centre was set up and how it has developed.
"First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr.Anton Bantock, who sowed the seed for my educational service.
"How Anton Tuition Centre blossomed?
"Mr.Anton and my husband, Joseph Selvanathan were friends. I had the
opportunity to meet Mr.Anton in 1991 during his visit to Thanneerpalli village.
At that time, I was working as an English teacher in a Tuition centre, run by
Sister Agnes. While working there, I found that students, who were able to pay
their fees could avail the learning opportunity, whereas the poor students, not
affordable, were denied. All students must benefit - I thought. I wished to help
these helpless students. At this right time, Mr.Anton came to the scene. Having
known his generosity and his interest in education field, I talked about these
students' problem. To our good luck, he immediately stretched out his helping
hands by setting up a Tuition Centre
under my leadership. In order to express
our gratitude, the centre was named after him.
"Established in 1992 with 45 students and 1 teacher (myself), it has now been
developed into an attendance of 155 students and 6 teachers. We conduct classes
up to pre-matriculation level.
"Aims of Anton Tuition Centre:
a) We focus on value-based education.
b) The need of education and its significance is emphasised in our classrooms
in order to motivate and orient the students.
"In 1998, while I was thinking of what could be done to the under-privileged
women sector, an idea of dressmaking training project
struck my mind.
Dressmaking is one of the income generative occupations in India. Again I talked
about this to Mr.Anton. He encouraged my idea and started to support this
project since 1998. Till now this project exists, bringing out 20 successful
skilled trainees every year. Anton Tailoring project aims at uplifting the
socio-economic status of women and shaping them into self-confident
personalities.
"In the meantime, in 1999 I commenced gem-cutting training classes for women. I could conduct this project only for 6 months. After that, this project was stopped due to want of funds.
"The progress of my projects was impeded due to my increased personal problems
in 2000. I had to shift my projects to Tiruchirappalli town area, 35 km away
from
Thanneerpalli village in 2000. Until April 2005, under the guidance of my
few close friends, I continued my projects there.
"I felt that my personal problems started decreasing considerably at this moment. I wished for permanent settlement in order to carry out my projects on permanent grounds. I decided to re-start my projects in the same Thanneerpalli village. I expressed my desire to Thanneerpalli people. They welcomed me whole-heartedly. Next, I talked about this to Mr.Anton on practical point of view. He too reconsidered my new proposal.
"Finally, with the kind co-operation of Mr.Anton and the people of Thanneerpalli village, Anton Projects were re-started in May 2005.
"We are proud to say that Anton Projects is a boon to Thanneerpalli and its adjacent villages.
"I am also privileged to work under the guidance of a great personality, who won an award from Queen Elizabeth the Second. I am ever grateful to you all and the Withywood University staff and its well-wishers must always remember that Anton's projects in South India aim at empowering the down-trodden with education. We, the staff have great share to achieve this goal and fulfil this vision through our sincere work and tireless efforts."
Indian School Today
The new tuition shed was built in June 2005 and teaching started immediately.
The Sponsorship Fund has
contributed towards the building, the construction of a
cement floor and asbestos roofing. The sides were filled in with thatch, but
following a disastrous school fire (not in Thanneerpalli!), the government has banned the use of thatch,
so more money had to be spent on asbestos sides for the shed before the monsoon
started. A request was also made for four sets of automatic lights as there are
frequent power cuts in the region. This would cost 12000 rupees (£150).
We have received the latest news from India with Prema again telling her own story:
"The current strength of our tuition classes has touched 150. Out of these, 100 can be accommodated comfortably in the newly constructed tuition shed and the remaining children are considered to be over-crowd. So three sections, belong to class 5, 6 and 9 are to be shifted to the Tailoring centre hall and to its adjacent terrace. Class 9 consists of 30 students are using the tailoring hall in the evening hours.
“Actually there is no empty space in the hall. What the children are
doing everyday is, before the class starts they remove and place all the sewing
machines and its connected furniture to the corner of the hall, create empty
space, make of it as classroom and
soon after the class is over, again they will
place the sewing machines and its furniture in its original place. So everyday
they are involved in such physical work. May be next year, we can provide a
separate classroom for them.
“The terrace adjacent to the tailoring centre is being used by the children of class 5 and 6, total attendance 40. It is a roofless terrace. So when the rain starts all of a sudden, the children had to run fast towards the house owner's ground floor for temporary accommodation. Roof is a must for them. The sooner I arrange the roof, the better I can protect them from all such natural disturbances. I enquired about the construction charges for the roof in the terrace. The estimate is around 9000 rupees (£120)."
In 2006, Prema set up a further educational project to help young people improve their English language so that they can obtain better jobs working in call centres etc. She has named this The Anton Institute for English. The University of Withywood has undertaken to pay staff costs, rent and other expenses over the next few years.
Ghana
Samuel Gomez writes:
"The University of Withywood started its sponsorship activities in Ghana in 1995. They help in areas of education and health. They specifically sponsor needy children in their education, pay their hospital bills and in the past have helped towards the construction of a health clinic."
Anton adds:
"Samuel Gomez was a teacher of Richard Boateng, one of our sponsorees, and he wrote to ask if we could find a sponsor for another young man called Felix. Margaret Richardson and Patricia Cane undertook this for a while and then the general fund took over.
"I kept up the correspondence with Samuel and when I visited Ghana in 1999 and 2001 the list of needy students inevitably grew and grew. During my second visit Samuel offered to take over the management of money and monitoring of students. He is there on the ground now to distribute funds, identify new candidates and let us know when others have finished their studies. We are most grateful to him for all the work he does for us.
"In 2004 and 2005 Samuel attempted to visit us here in the UK but, in spite of having all the necessary papers, was refused a visa by the High Commissioner. We hope that one day this may happen."
Kenya
Anton visited Kenya in 1990 and while there met a friend of a friend who hailed from Bristol and worked in Kenya for many years. His gardener, Gilbert Kigadi, asked if Anton could help his eldest son Robert with his education and we have seen him through quite a few years of his education since then. We have also helped his brothers Antony and Patrick and his sister, Nancy, who is now a college lecturer in computer science.
Robert has become one of our “troubleshooters” in Kenya and manages amounts of money we send – distributing them to the sponsorees and identifying others. He was recently asked by a headmaster to help Boniface Mwaki whose father had died of Aids, and he is now just starting a diploma course in business administration which lasts 18 months. He has kept an eye on the education of several other children – Hadley and Mali and Frederick and Annette.
Anton also helped Richard Sakawa with nursing training and through him he met Fredrick Otwari and helped him with an IT course. Fredrick is another of our trusted “troubleshooters” and he administers monies for Richard’s nephews and niece, Bernard, Wilfred and Lydia. He also looks after Stella and Ian whose father died recently, leaving them orphaned.
Both Robert and Richard have been stalwarts in our work and we are greatly indebted to them.
Malima School Cameroon
Judith Burnett was born and brought up in Bishopsworth, Bristol, and has for many years lived in Spain. A few years ago, on one of her stays in Bristol to visit her mother, she decided to join the University of Withywood French Conversation Class to brush up her French before going to Cameroon under the V.S.O. scheme. The rest is history.
With the help of local people she met there, she founded Malima School to allow children in this remote part of the country to receive an education. The French group was able to help financially. Last year, we also bought French video tapes and DVDs from French television nature and geography programmes. It is always a great pleasure to receive news of the school or of individual pupils.
For a slide show of Malima School and the pupils please click here
In a recent letter from Judith she says:
"Now I’m back after my whole year Cameroon adventure. I had a very enjoyable time. Despite the hardships of life in Gouria there are an amazing number of wonderful things about it too. I managed not to be ill for even one day ……. no malaria, no diarrhoea, no headaches and not a strange insect bite. Of course, I did BUY my way out of some problems, most notably the lack of water. I had mine sent from the town 40km (a 3-hour ride) away.
“Malima is doing extremely well. The school now has four classrooms and finance (we hope) for two more. Six is the total we need. We have almost 200 pupils and that is also the maximum we can take. Some of our first students took their Primary leaving exam and all passed. Now all nine are at secondary school in another town. We were really proud of them.
“Then there is the adult literacy, the nursery (90 children this year) and the classes for ‘older’ children who missed out on school.
“On the down side the village lost 20 children to malaria and typhoid, mainly babies. The water situation in March/April was really dire, with people spending hours waiting for water to drip into wells.
“Finally, can you please consider the enclosed letter from Christian the brother of the school’s director, Felix. Their father is retired with no pension and the only money the parents have is earned by the mother."
Uganda
Jane Britton, a Trustee of the University, tells us that since l995 exchange visits have been arranged with churches in South Bristol and the Mbale/North Mbale dioceses in Uganda. There have been youth exchanges and skills exchanges and through this connection the University of Withywood has awarded annual book grants to seven students studying in Uganda, which is an ongoing supportive project.
Paul Watyekere, along with other young people in Uganda, has received the annual book grant of £50 for several years. He was awarded a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Makerere University in October and sent his heartfelt thanks to all friends at the University of Withywood.
Paul says: “I want to assure you all that the charity fund is doing a very good work especially here in Africa where there are lots of bright young people, and yet financially incapacitated and constrained.
“Your annual book grant of £50 has always enabled me to acquire and access study materials on time and this contributed much to my studies. Today I am what I am partly because of the University of Withywood grants”
“I am already on the streets of Uganda seriously looking for any kind of job to enable me to earn some income.”