Hello, my name is Finlay Baird, and I am a pupil in my final year of Belfast Royal Academy.

Recently I have been presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to a small town situated in the middle of Zambia called Kapiri Miposhi. The children living here are nowhere near as fortunate as I am and many live in severe poverty. A team of volunteers and I will be going at the end of June 2026 with the hope of helping the educational system for the younger generation living there. We will participate in a range of different tasks such as setting up sporting opportunities as well as music, art and other teaching facilities. I thought that this would be such an incredible chance to give back to the world and help others, as well as giving me insight into the lives of those less fortunate. Due to the large cost of this adventure (£3200), I worked over the summer at The Open Championship in Portrush as well as my weekend job to earn money towards this trip.

Zambia is filled with natural beauty from the vast array of animals to the serene and powerful mountains. The tallest mountain in Zambia, called Mafinga Central, stands at 2340m, (over 2.75 times the tallest mountain found in Ireland!) Due to my developing interest in rock climbing and bouldering, I have set myself the challenge of climbing 234 meters vertically in one day in November. I think this will be a very challenging task and will really push my endurance and strength.

Any donations would mean so much to me, thank you for reading.