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| 2011 Beneficiary |
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Who would have thought that when a couple of British Airways pilots went on safari they would end up becoming regular postmen?
How it all started
It's not often that two 50th birthdays and a silver wedding anniversary all coincide but when they do it's worth celebrating. This is what Elaine Booth and her husband Bill, both pilots for British Airways, thought when it happened to Elaine's sister Wendy and her husband . . . and to celebrate they treated them to a safari with Robin Pope Safaris in the Luangwa Valley.
A visit to Kawaza Basic School caused Wendy Smith, a Business Manager at Elmtree School in the UK, to wonder how she could help the local children. Shortly after returning home she contacted Project Luangwa about sponsoring a local child to attend school. Over the ensuing emails the relationship between Wendy and Project Luangwa deepened as discussions took place not just about sponsorship, but also twinning Elmtree with a school in the Luangwa Valley through the Class to Class Scheme.
Wendy then met William, who works for a book recycling organisation and, never one to miss an opportunity she decided to collect children's books and surplus classroom resources from Elmtree and the neighbouring schools to send to Project Luangwa for distribution.
Solving the problem of transport
But how to get the books to Zambia without it costing a fortune? Well, Wendy is not shy of asking a favour or two . . . . . . especially when it comes to her sister. Knowing Elaine and Bill's love of South Luangwa - they married whilst on an RPS safari - Wendy asked them to take a suitcase or two on their regular flights to Lusaka.
But the books still had to get from Lusaka to Mfuwe. Robin Pope Safaris came to the rescue and arranged for Proflight, a Zambian domestic airline, to add the cases to their regular Mfuwe run whenever they have the space.
At the beginning of September 2010 Bill brought out just one suitcase of exercise books on a successful trial run.
The first consignment
A couple of weeks later Elaine delivered her first consignment of three hernia-inducing bags of much needed books and stationery to Lusaka and the very next day Proflight transported them to Mfuwe. Just two days after it left Heathrow Project Luangwa was able to deliver the whole consignment to Kawaza School.
But it hasn't stopped there! Not one to do things by halves Wendy, in a whirlwind of activity, spends her spare time collecting books and delivering them to Elaine's garage. She even came up with a perfect name for the scheme - 'Pilot Post'.
So far we have topped up the existing Kawaza Basic School Library and started a new one at Katapila community School. The next is planned to be at Chiutika Basic School.
Both Wendy and pilots, Bill and Elaine have made trips to South Luangwa to see the new library at Katapila for themselves bringing with them more books each time. Now Bill and Elaine are enlisting the help of more pilots and aircrew to work with Project Luangwa and get as many books to the schools and kids of South Luangwa as they can.
Teamwork
Project Luangwa would like to thank British Airways, Elaine, Bill and the other BA pilots, Wendy Smith, Elmtree School, William at GT-Recycling, the guy in Lusaka who makes sure that the cases get to Proflight, the Proflight team at Mfuwe Airport for keeping the cases safely in their office and Proflight themselves for coming together and making "Pilot Post" a reality.
To find out more about the scheme download our guide
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| Wendy Smith and a car full of books for South Luangwa | |
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| Elaine Booth en route for Heathrow. | |
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| Collecting the cases at Mfuwe Airport | |
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| Everyone comes out to see the new delivery for the library | |
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