Sunday, April 26, 2009

Student buys African orphanage

A student who visited a run-down African orphanage was so moved by the children's plight that she raised £30,000 to buy it. Amy Lambert, 24, set about gathering funds after witnessing the horrors at the decrepit Kichijo Orphanage in Tanzania.

She spent eight weeks volunteering there last summer, when she cared for 150 boys and girls - many of whom had lost one or both parents to AIDS and HIV. Miss Lambert found children who were starving, dangerously dehydrated and sleeping in dirty beds.

The undergraduate at Bath Spa university raised more than £30,000 in just seven months. But rather than passing the cash to authorities, she asked them if she could buy the orphanage instead.



Now she plans to complete her degree in Psychology and Health Studies this July before moving out to run the orphanage full time. Miss Lambert of Pewsham, Wiltshire said: "These children are the most beautiful, selfless people I have ever met. I have never felt so helpless."

Her offer to buy the orphanage was accepted earlier this year and now plans to tear down the crumbling building and replace it with a modern one. She also hopes to add a school room to educate the children and sow crops to teach them about self-sufficiency.

Anyone who would like to donate money towards Amy Lambert's orphanage should visit http://www.wearecollecting.co.uk

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