"Nothing else I've done in class has made minds turn on like using the microscope supplied by LabAid. Next year will be entirely different."
- Stephen Berry, Distance Education Centre, Likoma Island, Malawi
"Nothing else I've done in class has made minds turn on like using the microscope supplied by LabAid. Next year will be entirely different." |
About LabaidLabAid started some 20 years ago. Its aim is to improve the teaching of science by providing schools and colleges in developing countries with equipment, free of charge, through recycling apparatus being discarded by science departments in the UK. Many schools, mainly in Africa, have a science laboratory and teach chemistry, physics and biology, but cannot get funding to buy equipment. The number of schools wanting equipment is never-ending. Many schools have nothing at all but their students are still required to do practical work as part of their exams, which may entail them travelling some distance to another school, to be confronted by apparatus they have never handled before. LabAid completed its first 10 years as a registered charity in 2007. Alan Welch and another Trustee, Peter Tall, a retired industrial chemist with extensive management experience, coordinate activities. They are helped by a band of mainly retired local volunteers. No one is paid or receives reimbursement of expenses. LabAid would like to thank the growing number of helpers, especially laboratory technicians who are working voluntarily for LabAid in their areas of the country. Thanks to a number of kind drivers who deliver apparatus when on journeys which take them near our base in Amersham, Bucks. Special thanks to Gary Grant, Managing Director of a chain of toy shops called "The Entertainer" who allows his lorries to pick up any apparatus delivered to his shops. More offers of transport from northern England, Wales and Scotland would be much appreciated. |