Londoners dig deep for Aids orphans

One reader, Olga Shapiro, who works at the Institute of Neurology, was moved to pledge £6,000 over the six years it will take for Awino, 14, to complete her schooling.

She said: "I would like to donate £1,000 a year to help the 90 orphans at Jane's school, Alungo Primary. In Kenya, secondary schooling is not free and orphans like Jane have nobody to pay for their further education, which is their sole chance to escape poverty. The article about Jane Awino moved me deeply and I want to do what I can."

Luigui Oliveira, 27, a courier and amateur football coach from Willesden, called to pledge "£250 a year for the rest of Jane Awino's schooling, or more if that's what is required".

He added: "I'm especially keen to pay for Jane Awino's education, to buy her some new clothes, some medicines for her ill grandmother and to make sure that Jane and her 12-year-old sister, Rose, do not go hungry. Having grown up in Rio de Janeiro, I know what it is to be poor and I want to do my bit."

Their pledges bring the amount readers have sent in - by cheque or online - in the first week of the appeal to more than £11,300.

In addition, three London schools have agreed to join Plan UK's school linking programme, twinning British schools with 65 in Kenya, Malawi and Sierra Leone.

Of the three, two are secondary schools - Hurlingham and Chelsea in Fulham and Walthamstow School for Girls - and the other is Brunswick Park Primary in Camberwell.

Phil Cross, the headteacher of Hurlingham and Chelsea, a comprehensive with 500 pupils speaking almost 50 languages, said: "We are very excited to be linking up with a Plan secondary school in Malawi.

"I've been looking for the right project for our students to engage in for some time and when I saw the twinning programme featured in the Standard, I realised it was perfect. It fits with our 'every child matters' ethos, our international perspective and our agenda to promote citizenship."

Kate Williams, a teacher at Brunswick Park Primary, which has 600 pupils of which half are on free school meals, called the school linking programme "a tremendous idea whose time has come".

She said: "I immediately realised [Plan UK] was just the engagement to benefit our children. I called Plan UK and they suggested we twin with a primary school in Sierra Leone - perfect for us because some of our pupils have parents from there.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to write letters, improve their literacy, learn about the wider world and expand their horizons beyond Camberwell. I am really looking forward to it and I think the children will love it."

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET INVOLVED IN OUR CHARITY CAMPAIGN

HOW THE SCHOOL LINKING PROGRAMME WORKS

British schools pay £600 a year to belong to the Plan UK programme, of which £200 goes direct to the link school in Africa to effect improvements, while the balance is used to support the direct costs of running the programme.
Participating schools receive a resource pack - with lesson plans, DVDs, artefacts and photographs - as well as a half-day workshop at the start of the programme.
Communications between teachers of the linked schools will be facilitated, allowing them to exchange information on teaching methods and curriculums. Travel Counsellors, a travel company, is funding Plan UK to build five IT resource centres near the remote schools, which will allow teachers to communicate by email and via a dedicated intranet portal.
Pupils will communicate across continents by writing up to three longhand letters a year or by one-to-one messaging or blogs on the secure website.

HOW TO DONATE

London schools that wish to link with schools in Africa as part of the Plan UK School Linking programme should email link@plan-international.org.uk or telephone 02074829777
Interested schools can also visit the website on www.planschoolslink.org
Readers who wish to donate money to improve facilities for schools in Africa can do so either through the website www.plan-uk.org/eveningstandard/ or by sending cheques to "Plan UK", marked "Evening Standard Christmas Appeal" on the back, and addressed to Evening Standard Christmas Appeal, Evening Standard, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT.
Readers who wish to become closely associated with a school in Africa and help set up a link between it and a London school can also agree their own "sponsorship" fee with Plan UK.