Highland pupils take up Lake Malawi rowing challenge

Pupils at a West Coast high school will be taking part in the Row Lake Malawi challenge this Friday (10 October).

The aim of the challenge is for Mallaig High School pupils to raise funds to help build a new classroom at Luchenza Community Day Secondary School (CDSS), Malawi.

John O’Neill, Technical Teacher who is co-ordinating the challenge at Mallaig High School said: “One in four Luchenza students is orphaned due to AIDS and has to work to pay for school fees. They have made bricks to build a new classroom but need help to get other supplies like building materials and furniture.

“We hope that our pupils will not only have fun taking part in the challenge but that they will also learn and appreciate a bit more about life in Malawi and how different it is from here in Scotland.”

Mallaig High School is joining forces with Forres Academy in Moray to row 590 kilometres – the equivalent of rowing across Lake Malawi. The idea for the challenge came from Forres teacher, Liz Drawbell. The two schools will be joined during video link as they take up the rowing challenge.

At Mallaig High, each year group will visit the social area during the challenge and view pictures and video footage of Luchenza CDSS. They can then donate £1 each to row 500 metres on a rowing machine. The challenge requires 1,180 people to take part to get to the end of the lake.

For further information please contact: John O’Neill, Technical Teacher, Mallaig High School tel: (01687) 462107