Charity M.A.D. 4 Kids has raised £40,000 in the last two years
A group of Cyncoed teachers has been supporting a Zambian school for the last two years – sometimes even providing the pupils only hot meals.
The charity, M.A.D. 4 Kids (Making a Difference for Kids), was created two years ago by Sharon and Gareth Vaughan. It has raised £40,000 in the last two years.
During coronavirus, the charity has been providing food parcels for parents to take home instead of free school meals, similar to the scheme promoted in the UK by Marcus Rashford.
Sharon Vaughan, who used to teach at Llanishen High School, said: “Two of us are retired teachers the other three are still teaching so we’ve all got a great interest in children.
“Gareth and I had our 25th wedding anniversary two years ago and instead of presents, we asked for donations. We went over to Zambia with the money and it’s developed from there. It’s a lovely country.”
The charity supports the Good Samaritans Ministry School, which is on the outskirts of Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. The charity pays the salaries of four teachers and for one hot meal a day for the children. Mrs Vaughan said that for many of the children this is the only hot meal they have.
The school cares for some of the poorest children in Zambia. Many are orphans and live with extended families.
“Before we got involved the school actually started under a mango tree, it was about 30 kids and now it’s about 400 or something.”
Mrs Vaughan said she thinks the success of the charity is due to how personal it is and that people know that every penny of the money that’s made goes to Zambia.
The majority of support is from Cardiff. Most people donate between five and ten pounds a month.
The charity also helps the school in other ways. They have sent about 4,000 pairs of preloved shoes, and in September started a used toys initiative.
Mrs Vaughan said: “I’ve got 50 boxes of toys all ready to go. We’ve got a summer house in the garden that is absolutely packed. In one of the bedrooms the wardrobe’s absolutely packed, they’re just everywhere really. It was due to go in November but because of Covid the container’s not going until after Christmas now.”
The charity has managed to keep to all its commitments during coronavirus.
“The charity’s actually done really well during lockdown, I think people have been forking out so we’ve had lots of donations,” Mrs Vaughan.
“Normally we do lots of events at our house but obviously with COVID we can’t do anything, but a lot people have carried on being extremely supportive.”
“We normally have a big Carols by Candlelight evening, which is obviously cancelled but the choir that usually come and sing for us are making an online video so hopefully that will bring in some money as well.
“Hopefully when coronavirus is over we can get back to our regular fundraising events.”
Because the charity couldn’t put on events during Covid they instead made a recipe book.
“We had 20 people giving their favourite starter, main course, and dessert and then we put that together as a little booklet. I thought if we made 200 pounds it would be great but it actually made over 2,000 pounds,” said Mrs Vaughan.
The charity has also been helping the school in Zambia deal with Covid, she explained.
“We paid for masks, sanitiser and handwashing facilities in the school so the children could go back. They were out of school for a couple of months, similar to over here.
“There’s a suite there with computers and printers that we pay for, so they were putting together worksheets, and kids or parents were coming in to collect them and take them home. And instead of the children being fed in the school the parents came in and were given food parcels to take home and cook for the whole family.”
