In 2025, 272 million children did not attend school (UNESCO, 2025). At primary level, this represents 1 in 10 children who is not attending school. Poverty is one of the key contributing factors. Parents cannot afford to provide their children with a school bag, uniform and stationery.

In May 2026, I am travelling to Ghana with some students from the university of Winchester, to provide children with schoolbags. The students will visit Trashy Bag Africa, a registered company (registered number – 13457158; Trashy Bags Africa | Upcycled Bags) whose work is to address the issue of plastic pollution in a developing country. The NGO collects plastic bags and upcycle them into a range of items, including school bags. Trashy Bags Africa works in partnership with ‘School in a Bag (Registered Charity Number – 1186357) to distribute the school bags to the children in the poorer communities in rural areas (https://www.trashybagsafrica.com/partnerships). Each schoolbag costs £ 20. This fundraising will enable you to provide kids with the much-needed tools to attend school. When the bags are distributed, you will be able to match your donation with a child who received a bag by using the bag number on the website.

We thank you in advance for contributing to this fundraising as it will make a huge difference to the children. The students are going there in May and June, and you can follow the progress of their work on the Trashy Bag website.

Annabelle