GENEROUS nurses from an Inverclyde Royal ward have raised thousands of pounds to help buy a school bus for Rwandan children.

Staff members from H South took on a near-marathon length walking challenge as part of a donation drive for Inverclyde charity Aid For Education, an international aid project founded by IRH employee Douglas Kakooza.

The eight participants brought in over £2000 in sponsorship money for the worthy cause by taking part in recent Kiltwalk events.

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The cash will go towards buying a school bus for pupils who attend Tubarere School in Rwanda to use.

The school, which began operating in 2017, has almost 300 pupils, many of whom have to walk more than an hour to school each day.

(Image: Contributed)

Douglas, who started Aid For Education over a decade ago and took part in the Kiltwalk, told the Telegraph would go a long way towards helping the charity purchase the bus.

He said: “We’re looking to build additional classrooms and a library for the school.

“Alongside that we want to provide a transport facility to and from the school.

“Many of the children walk an hour or more to school and back home each day, others make use of bicycle taxis where there may be two or three children on the back of them.

“Sadly, there have been a few accidents with children falling off the bikes or who have been knocked off the bike by cars. A couple have suffered serious injuries. 

“Also, during the rainy season, children arrive late to class or are unable to get to school at all because it is so wet and the village roads are in poor condition.

“Tubarere School providing a minibus service would ensure the children get to school safely and on time.

“I would like to thank the ward staff, doctors, nurses and domestics for raising this money.”

In addition to raising money for the bus, Aid for Education also supports a range of other initiatives aimed at helping people in Rwanda.

(Image: Contributed)

Douglas added: “As well as fundraising and running charity nights we do other projects, for example we work with women to support them with farming and also giving them money to start businesses, because not every woman can afford to get a loan from the bank.

“We also work with a health centre in Rwanda who send out professionals to help test people’s eyes and we also get glasses from a company in America who give us glasses that we can give to people in the village help them see again.

“For people who don’t have accommodation, we also help build houses for them.

“We raise money to buy the roof and pay the builders so people can move in, especially people with children.

“We do all sorts of different projects to support them, because Rwanda as a country lost a lot of people during the genocide and we want to do as much as we can to help as the country is rebuilding.

Anyone who would like to donate or find out more about Aid For Education should email info@aidforeducation.org.