When a young girl called Shaila wrote to me this week and told me that she wanted to donate £30 of her birthday money to The Butterfly Tree I was really touched by this thoughtful gesture. The charity receives numerous donations from individuals, tourists, corporate and grants some of them substantial, though none could have been more sincere than the gift from Shaila.

Most African children like others from developing countries do not receive birthday or Christmas gifts and in the orphanges a number of them don’t even have a date of birth, their ages have to be estimated. It is important to make our children understand that not every child is as priviliged as they are and to teach them to realise that for some safe, clean water and food are gifts, commodities that we all take for granted.

We now have several schools supporting The Butterfly Tree. Seeing how responsive these pupils are after talking to them and showing photos of the Mukuni makes me realise that every school should support a charity of some kind; linking with a school in a remote village of Zambia is both educational and rewarding. It takes little effort: a non-uniform day could raise money to sponsor an orphan or provide much needed educational supplies. Having a cake stall as did our village school which brought in £210 for an orphan and school materials. One school is currently raising funds for bicycles, while another is providing special needs equipment for Mukuni Basic School.

Whether you are a pupil, teacher or a parent try to get your school involved and join the list of schools already supporting The Buttlerfly: Wolverton Primary, Marston Green Primary, St. Alban’s Primary, Fountaindale Specialist SEN, Arden School. If your school would like to sponsor an orphan you can give a child an education and make a difference to someone’s life.