By ALESHA CAPONE
FOR teenager Selin Kasif and other pupils at Overnewton Anglican Community College in Keilor, school is a normal part of life.
However, for young people in Zambia – one of the poorest countries in the world – attending school is not always possible.
According to UNICEF, more than a 250,000 Zambian children are out of school.
But for the past decade, staff and students at Overnewton have done their best to help improve the situation, through supporting a Zambian orphanage in the small town of Chibobo.
More than 120 children from the Chibobo Orphanage attend the area’s school, which goes up until Year 9.
Selin and six of her fellow Overnewton students will visit Chibobo next month.
They hope to raise $10,000 before they leave, to help build a high school in Chibobo.
The pupils have been collecting change, selling wristbands and will even raffle the chance for a student to swap positions with the senior school’s principal for a day.
“Every year, my family and I donate to Chibobo gold coins and clothes and old uniforms,” Selin, 16, said.
“I love actually hearing about help people less fortunate than me and how our donations change their lives.
“I think me going to Chibobo will make me appreciate my life a lot more.
“I’ve sold two boxes of wristbands and so have my friends.”
The young Taylors Lakes resident and her fellow pupils will be accompanied overseas by their teacher and regular Chibobo visitor, Mike Lampard.
“He said to us that, ‘It is a trip you will remember for the rest of your life,’ and also that it will be quite shocking,” Selin said.
