A Derry woman's inspiring charity work that has spanned almost a decade was recently praised on social media by Derry GAA.
Anita McWilliams travelled out to Zambia in 2012 during a career break from her job as a children’s social worker. She immediately felt connected to the community she met in Twafwane.
With severe levels of poverty and illiteracy, Antia wanted to make a lasting change to the community she grew close to.
She said: "When I first came to Twafwane, most of the children were not going to school as many of the adults in the community were illiterate and education was not seen as priority.
"As the class sizes in the government schools are so big here, kids who do not have the basics going into school really struggle.
“At the time I only intended to stay one year and kind of thought it would get things out of my system, but it had the opposite effect.
“I extended for a second to finish building a preschool in the community where I was a volunteer.”
As well as helping establish education, Anita brought a little piece of home with her to Twafwane. One initiative with Derry GAA’s Chris Collins has seen children in Zambia gifted with excess Cúl Camp gear.
For these children, a simple gift of clothes can make a huge and positive difference to their lives.
The jerseys, tops and bags have been making their way to children in the Twafwane community for a number of years.
Anita said: "It has always been a massive treat for the kids here.
"At this stage I can not begin to count the amount of jerseys and kits that Chris has sent over but every time I go I am bombarded with requests for kits for a new team.
"They somehow seem to quickly find out I am back in the community! The jerseys are in big demand and create a lot of interest.”
Almost ten years since her first trip to the Twafwane community, Anita reflects on the bright future for the children she has helped.
She said: " Every time I go to the community, I feel so proud to see how important education has become. I am really hopeful that these kids may have better opportunities than their parents did."
"I think that happiness and the positive nature of the people is one of the things I like most about being here.
"I have never stopped being amazed by the positive strength of the people living in the hardest of circumstances, and in their faith that things will get better."
Building upon the work she began with the Twafwane community, Anita McWilliams now works with an Irish organisation whose goal is the provision of education through ICT resources and teaching, overseeing provisions across five African countries.
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