MK students give children of genocide sporting chance
A group of Milton Keynes College students have recently returned from Uganda after bringing PE and sports lessons to children who have never had the opportunity to undertake positive physical activity.
The students were visiting a school and nursery run by the LightForce International Charity in Lira in Northern Uganda.
Before their visit, even the teachers at the school were sceptical about the value of physical education but they’re now making it a key element of the curriculum.
The students faced a number of challenges not least the lack of resources on the ground or a shared language. LightForce International is based at the Christian Centre in Milton Keynes. It has been working with disadvantaged people around the world since the 1980s.
The students are now looking for corporate sponsors to help transform the lives of children from one of the most war-ravaged countries on Earth through sport.
The College’s Sports Development Manager, Caroline Moran, said, “It’s so easy to underestimate the value of sport and physical activity in child development. This isn’t just a question of going halfway round the world for a kickabout. These children have no basic physical literacy. They’ve never played in a physical way and their teachers don’t understand the importance of physicality in that development process.
“Many of the children have witnessed and experienced terrible things and have resulting health and behavioural problems. The school had challenges with absenteeism. When our students brought them structured physical activity those numbers plummeted and behaviour drastically improved.”
Student Zach Manuel said, “Because the children in LightForce School have never really played proper sports it was going to be a hard task. Uganda itself is quite different compared to England in terms of what they have and what we have but let’s just say it was incomparable. Teaching was hard.”
Caroline Moran further added, “We’d love to hear from people at any companies who believe in education as a way to improve the world and who might be able to help us make such an incredible difference to children’s lives. And it’s important to remember we’re talking about children here.
“They didn’t ask to be born in a time and place which disadvantaged them so severely. They might just as well be your children or mine, they just haven’t been so lucky.”
For further information, you can get so by contacting Caroline Moran at MK College on 01908 687341, or 07930 997182, or by e-mailing [email protected]