" The first ever practical science lessons at the school took place in September. The boxes arrived in June and the school then spent some time over the summer preparing three rooms to act as labs.
- School in Freetown, Sierra Leone
" The first ever practical science lessons at the school took place in September. The boxes arrived in June and the school then spent some time over the summer preparing three rooms to act as labs. - School in Freetown, Sierra Leone |
After the disruption caused by covid, the LabAid Foundation has had a successful year, continuing the work started by the late Alan Welch, MBE.
Volunteers
Scientists, and especially former science teachers or technicians would be particularly welcome and we might be able to find more specialist jobs you could do - checking, testing or repairing equipment. Last year, we sent out about 12 boxes per month, but with more hands-on local volunteers we could send out more.
Despite a limited number of volunteers this year, we managed to supply science teaching equipment to 14 educational establishments - everything from microscopes to magnets, beakers to balances and clamp stands to cathode ray oscilloscopes. All of that was in a total of 145 boxes, rather more than last year.
The campus of Alliance Model School in Kilembe, Uganda was swept away in floods in 2020. It set up again in abandoned mine buildings and LabAid supplied apparatus, here being used in the holidays as students try to catch up after covid lockdowns.
In all, we supported establishments in 6 countries: Ghana, Libya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Uganda. One such establishment was the University of East Africa, in Somalia. There is a need to educate science students, in a foundation course, who have had little or no experience of practical work at school, hence apparatus suitable for A-level teaching is very much needed. Generally speaking, our waiting list stays reasonably constant, with establishments being taken off the top of the list at about the same rate as new ones are added at the bottom. At present, there are about 14 on the waiting list, which at the current rate of progress would take about year to fulfill, although packing the extra equipment may slow us down unless we can find some additional local volunteers.
Donations
of equipment We accept donations of used scientific equipment, mainly from schools in the UK, and sort, check and pack it for sending to schools and similar establishments in developing countries. Mostly
these gifts arise when a UK school is closing, moving
site or refurbishing its laboratories although we have
accepted items from universities doing the same or from
suppliers closing warehouses etc. The shelves in our rather cramped store are over-flowing. We had been worried that the supply was drying up but this year’s bumper harvest means we can offer a much better selection to those schools in developing countries with a ‘laboratory’ – but nothing to put in it. Thanks, too, to The Entertainer chain of toy shops (www.thetoyshop.com) which transported several pallet-loads of boxes of apparatus from their shops to their warehouse in Amersham, whence one of our volunteers made a number of journeys, with his car boot full. Financial
situation
Although
essentially a re-cycling charity, we do need some cash
for expenses to complete sets of equipment, for
expendables such as batteries, or other costs such
as insurance and the website.
This
year, family & friends of one of our volunteers, who
passed away recently, raised a generous donation to
LabAid. The Royal Society of Chemistry continue to
support us, as do Amersham Free Church.
If
you would like to make a donation or fundraise for us,
please make initial contact by email.
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2021/22 Despite
all the disruption caused by the pandemic, the LabAid
Foundation has been able to continue the work started in
1991 by the late Alan Welch MBE. Supporting
overseas schools
13
schools were helped with a total of 123 boxes of science
equipment sent out, only marginally less than last year.
In all, establishments in 8 countries were supported in
this way: Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South
Africa, South Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Volunteers
We
rely on volunteers and need more! We would especially
value someone who could check and clean donated
microscopes (at home – training could be given). Our
trustees and volunteers are unpaid.
Donations
of equipment
Whilst
offers of equipment are not yet up to pre-covid levels,
they are gradually picking up again and we are reasonably
confident that the LabAid model is viable from that point
of view. Thankyou for all donations in the past year.
Financial
situation
Although
essentially a re-cycling charity, we do need some cash for
expenses to complete sets of equipment, for expendables
such as batteries, or other costs such
as insurance or the web site.
Without
more financial support we will be restricted in what we
can offer.
2020/21 So
far, LabAid is surviving the Covid pandemic better than
we expected a year ago.
LabAid had totally shut down during the lockdown from March to June 2020 but made a cautious re-start in July following a risk assessment. Social distancing was impossible in the storage area so only 2 volunteers could work at a time, at opposite ends of the building.
Despite
this limitation from July 2020 to June 2021 we sent out
130 boxes to 15 schools in 7 countries: Ghana, Malawi,
Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Rwanda and Somaliland,
almost exactly the same as in the previous year 2019/20
up to the time coronavirus struck, when we entered
lockdown and activities were completely suspended for
the remainder of the truncated year.
Whilst
we had feared schools would be under too much pressure
to sort out redundant equipment for LabAid, we were
heartened by an increase of about 50% in the number of
donations offered by schools/colleges, including some
large ones, as well as a warehouse clearance by
suppliers Scientific & Chemical.
However,
transport did prove a problem in that for most of the
period The Entertainer chain of toyshops was unable to
accept boxes of equipment for delivery via their vans to
Amersham. We set up some ad hoc routes which were partly
successful and the net effect is that stock levels are
higher than this time last year.
The year 2019/20 started very well From
July 2019 to March 2020 we sent out 134 boxes to 16
schools in 8 countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
This
was comparable to what we had achieved the previous year
but coronavirus then struck, we were in lockdown and
activities were completely suspended for the remainder
of the year.
As lockdown eased in July 2020, we started considering what risk assessments would be required to be able to resume operations whilst maintaining social distancing.
Unfortunately,
even before lockdown, the number of schools donating
redundant equipment to LabAid had been dropping for some
time, by about 30% in 2018/19 and a further 20% between
July 2019 and March 2020, although there may well be
items in the pipeline of which we are unaware.
We
believe this is because the Government’s academy
programme and the consolidation of FE colleges onto
fewer sites are both largely complete and austerity has
meant that maintained schools simply cannot afford to
replace equipment.
Overseas Shipments NewsLabAid received this feedback in May 2019 to say thank you very much.A gesture of appreciation for the science equipment donated by Labaid to a college in Lagos, Nigeria by the students of the college. In April 2019, an academy in Achalla, Nigeria sent photos and the appreciation of all the students. LabAid sent 178 boxes of apparatus in its first calendar year since reforming in July 2016 since 1st July 2017. Given confirmed orders, we could hit 170 this year.
On Thursday 2nd August we were visited by Mr. Abdikani Alio representing the Director of Education for the West Pokot region of Kenya. We loaded 25 boxes on to his van which will be transported to 2 schools in Kapenguria, Kenya. Following this we moved straight on to preparing a similar order for 2 schools in Uganda which we hope to complete by the end of August. Latest
on LabAid
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