Again and again during the two days I have just spent at Bwafwano Community Centre, which incorporates the school for orphans and vulnerable children that is funded entirely by Cecily's Fund, people have said how much they appreciate what Cecily's Fund is doing by supporting them. I promised to pass their messages on to you - here are two typical examples; Margaret Kaira, one of the teachers said "I am so grateful not only for what you are doing for the children, but also for us teachers. With the money I get for this job I am helping my siblings to go to school. My mother died when I was very, very young and my elder sister worked so hard to put us through school. Now I feel I am able to give something back. Dominic (not his real name), who lives with his grandmother and eight siblings and cousins said "Thank you to those who are supporting me to go to school. May God bless them. They have made me what I am today" Today Dominic is a smartly dressed student at New Kabanana school who hopes one day to study law - and maybe even become a judge.

I have been so impressed with Bwafwano. It is a much bigger operation than the school, which itself teaches 650 children, crammed four to a desk, in shifts through the day. There is also a clinic, a home based care centre and another four programmes which act as a vital safety net for the impoverished families of Chazanga suburb. But everything works together like finely tuned clockwork. Today and yesterday I met children who had been taken out of school because their parents had become bedridden. Bwafwano found them, brought them back to school - free of charge thanks to Cecily's Fund supporters - in some cases parents had been referred to the Bwafwano clinic where they pay a small fee for treatment (children are treated free) and linked them with other organisations who could help them build a decent shelter to live in. Then when they go on to the government schools, Bwafwano continues to care for them, by keeping in touch with the teachers there.

This is done by Mr Kataso, the headteacher. Like a benign pied piper, he is greeted warmly by children wherever he goes - in Bwafwano itself and in the government schools elsewhere in Chazanga. He seems to know them all by name, although there are hundreds of them. And he can tell you the background of each one. The teachers in the government schools told me that of all the organisations helping them "Bwafwano is the best", and much of this is due to Mr Kataso's passion, committment and the way he includes everyone in decisions and discussions about what is best for the children.

But my biggest thrill was meeting Esther (11) and Ethel (8), two very bright and confident littles girls living in great poverty with their grandmother and several other siblings. They had told their teacher they were so happy to finally be in school that they'd written a poem about it. They recited it for me to film and I hope to be able to share it with you when I get back to England. They summed up perfectly the happiness and relief that being able to go to school brings these children. They live in a dry, dusty suburb, down a long, red dusty track where few of the adults have jobs, apart from selling vegetables or coal at tiny stalls in the local market, and the children have little to model their hopes on. At school they come into contact with teachers, and many say that's what they want to be. Even if this is a reflection of the fact that they meet no other professionals, it is also a reflection of the kindness with which the teachers give their
support, and the high value that the children place on the knowledge they gain from them.

Tomorrow I take the 5 hour bus journey to Kitwe to visit the children we support there through our partners Hodi and CHEP.
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