'A privilege to engage with them' - Whitby auctioneer returns to Zambia to see how children's lives are being changed

Linda is a disadvantaged area of the country’s capital, Livingstone, and the school brings hope and the possibility of a brighter future to those in the area.

When Zambezi Sunrise Trust, of which Mr Smith is a trustee, first became involved with the school, it had 470 pupils and faced the threat of closure.

The trust has now built classrooms for each year group, an all-weather kitchen, two ablution blocks and a science block, and the school now caters for 720 of the area’s most vulnerable children.

Mr Smith said: “I went out in February, which should be the rainy season, but in the three weeks I was there it only rained on one evening, this means that all of the corn has failed and they are now struggling to feed themselves.

“This is compounded by the cost of living crisis, they face the same pressures as we do, everything has gone up, food, rental costs etc.

“Put simply, they have no money, and as they say in Yorkshire ‘twice nowt is still nowt’.

“The Zambian government is now load-shedding, this means that there are power outages for three to four hours a day and the water is turned off for eight hours a day.

“My immediate thought was ‘it’s all fine and dandy trying to create an opportunity and environment for education - but no matter how good it is - what’s the point if they can’t feed themselves?’”

Mr Smith spoke about head teacher Cathy Chilambe, describing her as an inspirational woman.

He said: “I met Mother Teresa a few years ago and I would put her on a pedestal of that magnitude.

“Most of the children, every one of them in fact, come from underprivileged backgrounds, many are orphans.

“Cathy knows the background of each one of them.

"She monitors absences closely and physically goes and sees them because she knows there could be family issues.

“Every day she sees maybe 20 parents/guardians wanting to get into the school.

“At the moment there’s no room, and we have to give priority to those who are orphans.

“One of the things I really enjoyed, because now I’ve been there twice I’ve learnt a little of their language, is that I found it easier to talk in the classroom in group discussions. I have a rapport with them.”

Mr Smith said that he hopes to return to Zambia early next year as it was “a privilege” to engage with the Zambian people.

“Their intense warmth was the first thing I noticed.

“I stood there on the first morning I returned and looked around, and I remember thinking how beautiful what we have created is.

“There is a feeling of pride at having created a beautiful, fairly modern space in an underprivileged environment.

One benefit of Mr Smith’s visit is the connection created between Linda Community School and primary schools at Sleights, Glaisdale and Castleton.

Letters between the school pupils have been exchanged and live link ups for the children to speak with each other take place to bring their pen pals to life.