As you know, we’re committed to giving back to communities that bring us our tea - we source from well-run, sustainable tea estates and always try to do the right thing when it comes to the environment. With our continued work with the Point Foundation in Gisenyi, Rwanda; we are seeing some amazing progress within the beautiful country that gives us our much loved english breakfast tea. A percentage of all english breakfast sales are donated straight to Point Foundation, so whether intentionally or not, if you've ever bought our english breakfast, you are responsible for some amazing work being carried out in Rwanda - thank you!!
Here's a little update on how your donations are changing lives for the better:
‘house of children’ school: books, nutrition & transport
- We currently support 20 children with special educational needs who are being funded to attend the House of Children School
- There has been an ongoing book support at the House of Children School to enable more learning across different subjects. 500 text books have recently been delivered making that 2,500 books in total so far! Books are such an incremental part to the developing each child’s future.
- 33 litres of milk are now being delivered to the House of Children School by a local dairy farmer every school day for lunch.
- Our donations are helping the 76 sponsored children with disabilities have that additional nutritional boost to their health.
- Transport is an essential element in giving disabled children access to education. For those with mobility problems and living in rural communities, walking is impossible on the volcanic rubble tracks surrounding their villages. School buses have enabled these children to achieve so much more.
‘teapigs house’: music, educational play & rainwater harvesting
- The Point Foundation run a disability program in collaboration with the Gallagher Trust. They manage houses that provide specialist care and accommodation for disabled children and young adults. teapigs fully fund one of the houses – teapigs house.
- With our continuous funding, we are helping care for 7 severely disabled youth living here with love and constant attention.
- All the wheelchair users who live here now spend much of their day able to sit in proper chairs with some being able to walk almost unaided for the first time in years.
- There is now a huge focus on using music as therapy. ‘Jessie’s Place’ is where emotional comfort is brought together with physical movements via activities.
- teapigs house needs to overcome their obstacles in retrieving clean and fresh water by building a rainwater tank. Rainwater tanks are the most efficient way to provide water and are urgently needed. 1x5000 litre rainwater tank costs £500.
- Last month Point Foundation were able to supply Ubumwe Community Centre with 2 braille machines which were desperately needed to help the young blind people being taught in classes held there.
the germe nursery school
- Before the point foundation visited this under resourced school, the lack of chairs and desks was the most obvious need, as most children were sitting on the floor to study.
- teapigs have helped contribute towards giving the pupils a better way to study at their lessons. 100 chairs, 10 tables and 110 happy faces!
- We are constantly aiming to raise funds needed to provide its pupils with as much help as possible.
students
- We still keep in touch with our teapigs university students. One of which has begun an exciting internship at Rwanda’s Akagera Game Reserve as part of his 2nd year tourism & hospitality module. This is Rwanda’s only game reserve and is popular by offering the BIG 5 safari experience.
Tea is a wonderful thing, and we hope you’re as committed as us in ensuring the lives of the young and vulnerable members of the tea growing communities continue to thrive in a safe and empowering environment.
If you’d like to find out more about our ethical scheme, head over to our ethical page
Alternatively you can head straight to our donation page here
Find out more about The Point foundation and their amazing work here
