Lunchtime welly walks for UK schools to end hunger in Africa
10 July 2012
Farm Africa’s Give Hunger the Boot! appeal is giving UK schoolchildren a really fun way to raise funds for African children who are going hungry every day in thousands of communities across eastern Africa.
The UK charity, which works with communities in rural Africa to end hunger and build sustainable livelihoods, is asking schoolchildren, parents and teachers to “get their wellies on” and take part in a mass UK-wide welly-walk to one of its projects in eastern Africa. And back!
The idea is actually quite simple, and nowhere near as daunting as it first sounds. All that’s needed is for schools to plan a sponsored walk – long or short - in their wellies next Autumn term. Each school adds together the total number of welly-miles walked and sends the total number to Farm Africa. If 100 people in a school each walks one welly-mile, then the church has walked 100 welly-miles! Add their welly-miles to those of another 80 schools taking part and we’ll soon have walked all the way to one of the villages in Ethiopia where Farm Africa is working and back! It really is as simple as pulling on those wellies and giving hunger the boot!
The appeal has been designed to capture children’s imagination by giving them an excuse to get their wellies on and have some fun in the great outdoors this coming Autumn. And from an educational point of view the appeal provides teachers with some really engaging Africa-themed lesson plans that will help their pupils learn about the lives of children in Africa, and how they can change those lives for the better.
Other welly-themed ideas we’ve come up with to help children end hunger in Africa include replacing non-uniform day with a welly day – children make a donation and wear their wellies to school for a day. We’ve also created a welly-wanging competition where children see who can throw their welly the furthest - £1 for each throw is added to the fundraising total. Those competitive dads can get involved too!
