Meet Mbali!
At Picture News, all of the schools we work with are based in the UK where every child is lucky enough to have an education provided free of charge, until they are 16. As with most things that are free, education can sometimes be taken for granted – by all of us! Research for the Independent Schools Council found that state school education costs at least £9,000 per child, per year on average. We believe we should all fully appreciate how lucky we are to live in a society that places such a high value on our children’s education.
Through teaching about the news and making children more aware of what’s going on in the world around them, we believe children can grow up to become more informed and responsible adults. It is for this very reason that we also want to raise awareness (for the children in our schools) of the many children that do not have access to an education: a United Nations report from 2014 estimated around 57 million children do not attend any educational establishment.
Awareness is the first step to change but more important is what should come next – action. This statistic is staggering and highly disappointing but there must be something we can do. One of the reasons we chose to work with SOS Africa as we truly believe in their mission statement:
At Picture News we spend a lot of our time reading and watching the news, choosing relevant and interesting stories that children can learn from – it is an incredibly fulfilling purpose – but we also want to do more. We wanted to help show that we can all make a difference.
Mbali (pictured) lives with her mother, father and four siblings in Lwandle Township, South Africa. Her father works full time and her mother is at home looking after the children. They are wonderful caring parents doing the best they can for their children but the family struggle financially. Mbali is a quiet, well-spoken little girl who always wants to help in class. She is described by her teacher as hard working and diligent in all that she does. She loves to sing and play with her friends.
Working with SOS Africa, we are sponsoring Mbali’s education throughout her school years. The sponsorship ensures that Mbali, receives a high standard of education at one of the schools attended by the SOS Africa children. Without this sponsorship, many of the children SOS Africa support would have little hope of securing any education at all. 
We will regularly update our Picture News schools with Mbali’s progress via our weekly newspaper. We believe this can show the difference helping someone, even in what may seem a small way, can make to their lives. We hope this will lead children to realise how lucky they are to have the opportunity to go to school and also encourage them to help others and feel empowered to bring about positive change to the world in many different ways!
If you wish to get involved in the work of SOS Africa please visit their website: www.sosafrica.com or email: info@sosafrica.com.