A Broughty Ferry woman has made it her mission to raise enough funds for five computers for a primary school in Kenya.
Sheila Mcluckie, former assistant head of Grove Academy, is raising money for Limbene Primary School, in Meru, near Mount Kenya.
She has arranged for Grove Academy to open its car park on Saturday (July 9) for members of the public to park there for free.
In return, Sheila hopes people will donate to her cause at a stall within the car park, which will also have small crafts and artwork for sale and a raffle.
The 70-year-old, of Camphill Road, Broughty Ferry, has been raising funds for the school since she visited it in 2008 and was shocked by the conditions.
She said: “It was totally arid, there was red earth on the ground, some of the kids had no shoes on and they were sitting gathered together in the sun.
“The building was made from corrugated iron and had dirt floors. There were holes in the walls – it was not watertight and they get floods there as well as droughts.
“It had quite an effect on me – it’s a sight that’s never left me.”
On her return she was desperate to help the school and asked primary schools in Dundee if they could help with fundraising. Staff at St Mary’s Primary School agreed and they raised money for desks in 2012.
But when she visited that same year, Sheila was saddened to see ‘not much had changed’ since her first trip.
She then set about raising funds for the school’s first proper classroom, along with toilets and handwashing facilities, which were completed by her next visit in 2018.
Government officials in Kenya built more classrooms soon after, matching the standard of the new one Sheila had funded.
Since then she has sent money to the school twice every year through a local pastor and minister, funding a mini bus for the kindergarten and desks and furniture for classrooms.
Sheila said: “I’ve had great letters from the pupils, they appreciate what we are trying to do and say how great it is to have their own desk, their own chair and a locker.”
She now hopes to raise enough for five computers – which will be the first computers the school has, and successful former students have also pledged to fund five more.
As well as the car parking event, Sheila also sells painted stones and other small pieces of artwork from her home, and she recently swam 100 lengths a week for three weeks, raising £300 for the cause.
She also held a Christmas Fayre last year from a friend’s house and raised more than £1,200.
She added: “I felt it was a very unfair world when I met these very upbeat pupils and staff at Limbene in 2008, working in appalling conditions while Grove Academy was getting this state of the art school.
“I couldn’t get Limbene out of my head and I get a huge amount of satisfaction working in partnership with them.”
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