Yesterday evening was a brilliant evening for our students, staff, governors and special guests, who gathered together for our annual Presentation Evening to celebrate the excellent achievements of our students in the 2017 examinations. This year’s GCSE and A Level results exceeded all expectations and we are extremely proud of our students and their successes.
Our special guests of the evening were Barry Gardiner, MP and Dr Mick Jackson, the founder of the Wildhearts Charity, who has founded over 40,000 micro-entrepreneurs across 40 countries. Dr Jackson’s opening speech was truly motivational and inspirational and we wish to thank him for participating to our special event.
We’d also like to thank to all of our staff who helped with organising this great event and to all of our teachers whose dedication and hard work enabled our students to achieve as high as they did. Well done everyone!
Many thanks as well to our media students for interviewing Dr Mick Jackson on the day. Please see their notes below:
What inspired you to start off this foundation?
At a climate expedition in Pakistan, I came face to face with what happened to my guides when they fell ill and they had no money to be treated. This bothered me a lot and reminded me of my grandfather who was treated in the same way. When I returned home, I thought about my vows and how I could use business to help the poor; and to be honest, I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I definitely knew why.
Where do you see the foundation going in 5-10 years?
We have just made a huge jump forward and are about to launch Wildhearts Africa, specifically registered in South Africa. Our partners are South African and have a huge Sub-Sahara infrastructure that we can use to get to the heart of the issues we want to address. On top of this, we also launched a business called Wildhearts Horizon, which is a document managing data protection business.
The next thing we are planning to work on is manufacturing and distributing reusable sanitary towels for school girls. It was distressing to hear that most girls drop out of school before they start their periods, and it is seen as a taboo to talk about it for the girls, and for schools, to teach them. By providing reusable sanitary towels, 86% of the girls are able to attend school and stay.
We’ve also launched Wildhearts education, which is a project that helps schools in Malawi by sending school packs full with essentials. This January I hadn’t even planned to launch this in South Africa, but here we are and I wish that Wildhearts will be able to help more and more people.
What advice would you give someone who wants to do something similar to you?
A huge influence for me is Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who developed a micro-finance system and he did this with no funding. He showed us that you can also help people without donations. Most important thing is to find something that sets your heart on fire and something you really want to address. You have to find your passion, it will evolve and change, but without that passion you won’t do anything.
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