A North Kent College tutor and two former students have travelled to Cape Town to help build twenty classrooms, two playgrounds, four covered shelters and a kitchen, all in the space of seven days.

Phil Miles, who is a lecturer in brickwork and multitrades at the College, was joined by two former bricklaying students Freddie Bishop and Josh Cherry, who both graduated from the College this summer, for Mellon Educate’s ‘’Building Blitz.’

The trip has been made possible thanks to the sponsorship of local businessman Mark Lindop. He has provided financial support to enable staff and students to be part of this project since 2017.

Phil said:

‘I am very grateful to Mark Lindop who has given me another opportunity to go to Cape Town to help build new classrooms within the schools of the Township of Khayelitsha. I was lucky to go back in 2018 and it was a very humbling experience and it does really make a difference to thousands of schoolkids, I would like to also say a big thankyou to North Kent College for allowing me to go again, Mellon Educate, who are a fantastic charity, and everyone who has made a donation.”

Mellon Educate is a charity that was founded in 2002 with the aim of bringing literacy to hundreds of thousands of children across South Africa.

Since its inception it has built houses for over 175,000 homeless people in South Africa’s poorest townships, and built or renovated 36 schools, which has provided improved education for 50,000 children.

As part of its commitment to improving education standards in the country, it launched The Mellon Educate Literacy Programme in 2018 which provides one-to-one tutoring in Literacy Hubs built by Mellon Educate volunteers.

Photo: North Kent College (from left to right: Phil Miles, Mark Lindop, Josh Cherry and Freddie Bishop at the North Kent College campus in Gravesend.)