A kind-hearted teenager is fronting a campaign in Monmouth to improve the education for children in a deprived region of Zimbabwe.

Fourteen-year-old Chris, a pupil at Monmouth School for Boys, teamed up with Charlie Walker, the former Head of School, to support The Hwange Schools Project.

Six suitcases of toys, 65 geography books from Monmouth School for Girls and thousands of pens, pencils and pencil cases together with educational posters, were among the donations.

These resources have now been taken out to the Matebeleland region in Zimbabwe and given to 13 rural schools.

Chris and his family also collected a sum of £1,800 which has gone towards the provision of desks and chairs for early learning classrooms in the region.

Chris’ sister collected goods and his brother made miniature clay items which he sold to raise money, while the family received donations from friends.

The Hwange Schools Project is a volunteer-based organisation that aims to improve literacy levels in the schools in Matabeleland.

Chris, a pupil in Year 10, sparked interest in the Monmouth area after putting an article about The Hwange Schools Project in a school newsletter.

He organised and co-ordinated the donations across the schools and contacted Charlie Walker, who had set up the African Pen Project.

Chris and his family have been delighted with the wonderful support from the Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools’ community.

“The whole project is ongoing and we will be trying to raise money through various initiatives this year,” said Chris.

“We have set a target of raising £2,000 to put towards purchasing specific Zimbabwean curriculum textbooks because the lack of these was identified as the main challenge facing the schools.

“Many of the schools have no text books at all, and where there are some, often one text book is shared between 10 or more pupils.”