As we approach the festive season, a team of Highgate pupils are driving several initiatives to raise money for the Safi Coffee project, which helps provide Ugandan children with essential education through the sale of freshly roasted coffee and merchandise.
Highgate is part of a collective of schools who are working together to import Ugandan coffee to sell across the UK, raising funds to change lives. Our combined goal is to raise £14,400, which will help 80 children receive the education they need.
The Safi Coffee initiative is a popular feature of our busy co-curricular programme of clubs and societies. Twenty-five pupils from the Senior School meet regularly to discuss fundraising tactics and organise events, including three major ones for our Christmas drive.
We have coordinated a festive soiree for parents hosted at the Junior School, a staff shopping event and a charity breakfast (for pupils and staff). A range of items are available to buy for the project, including sustainably sourced coffee (ground, bags and beans in both caffeinated and decaffeinated), tote bags and Christmas hampers.
Safi Coffee raises vital funds to educate children in Uganda and change their lives completely. It costs just £180 to fund a child to attend school for a full year. This includes accommodation, food, uniform and healthcare.
Highgate pupils recently attended an event at Felsted School, Essex, alongside other partner schools, to support the reopening of their Safi Coffee shop after the Covid hiatus. Carrie Mertens, Director of Safi Coffee, explained: “To see pupils from each school engage with Safi Coffee is hugely exciting. They are learning new business skills and experiences which will allow them to present Safi confidently to the community in order to increase sales which will provide even more children in Uganda with the education and opportunities they deserve.”
The Safi Coffee initiative is a recent addition to our wider commitment to education in Uganda, which began in 2010 through our long-standing partnership with Great Lakes High School – now a thriving establishment providing a science-based education for 300 girls and boys from year 7 through to A Levels.
Whilst schools in Uganda have been closed for COVID-19, we have funded food and education packs for use at home – their equivalent of remote learning – and teachers have been paid at 50% to retain them until schools reopen in January. Despite the lockdown, GLHS pupils achieved exceptionally well in national tests earlier this year.
To order a Safi Coffee Christmas Hamper to collect from Highgate until Friday 17 December, please email enterprises@highgateschool.org.uk.
For more information about Safi Coffee, or to purchase items from their online shop, please visit https://saficoffee.co.uk/.
Thank you for your support.
