An adventurous Gillingham School sixth-former is planning to swim 10km to raise £2,000 for a volunteering trip building classrooms in Tanzania.

Year 12 student Cai will be taking part in a volunteering trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania, this July. Organised by the charity African Adventures, the trip requires volunteers to work with a team of experts to teach lessons and build educational facilities for primary school children in deprived communities.

Cai and around 40 other students from Gillingham School, along with other volunteers, will spend 10 days working to improve children’s educational experiences and prospects.
“In these communities, many families get by on just 75p a day, and the schools in the area are understaffed,” Cai explained. “In some cases one teacher is responsible for 100 students, so it’s difficult for individual students to get the one-on-one help they need with their learning.
“Our aim is to help provide this extra level of support to these schools and to aid in any construction projects to improve their facilities; to give children in this area the education they deserve.”
Cai needs to raise £2,000 to fund his trip. To do this he is taking on a 10km swimming challenge – known as a swimming marathon – at Riversmeet on March 24.

To sponsor Cai, visit his GoFundMe page (gofund.me/1b134ac5) or find him on Instagram @cai_zanzibar2023.