Students Organise Fundraiser for Refugee School in Lebanon

ESOL students from West London College organised a gifts and cake sale to raise money for Moham School, located at the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon. The students encouraged staff to donate items for the fundraiser whilst they set sales strategies and created banners to raise awareness of their cause.

The learners took the initiative after learning about their teacher’s experience working as a volunteer in the school. Most of the ESOL students are refugees themselves and decided to take this opportunity to help others and give something back.

Taion Mekonen, an ESOL student, said: “We appreciate having a free education in the UK and believe having access to education is a basic human right. I enjoyed participating in the fundraiser, I feel happy to be able to help the school buy basic equipment.”

After three days of fundraising activities, the students raised over £300. All the money collected will help Molham School to purchase much-needed equipment.

Nicci Golland, ESOL teacher, is heading to the school in the summer holidays to deliver the donation. She said: “The students really enjoyed encouraging everyone to part with their money and are delighted to have raised so much. This was a rewarding experience for them as they took ownership of their project and challenged themselves to build on their communication skills. Thank you to everyone for their support and for helping our students to raise so much money.”

Molham School is based in the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon, and provides education to 250 children each year. The school was set up by Molham Volunteering Team, a non-profit organisation to provide aid to internally displaced persons in Syria and Syrian refugees living in camps of the neighbouring countries.