A WHALLEY-BASED charity thatwhich helps support Massai children through secondary school is aiming to double the number of youngsters it can support in the next five years.

Maachild was founded by Therese Green after first visiting Kenya in 2005 as part of her wildlife conservation, ecology, local environmental and cultural studies degree at the University of Central Lancashire.

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On returning hometo the UK, the mum-of-one set about researched into the education provision for children in the Massai Mara National Reserve and discovered that there was little support for them to receive secondary education.

The 48-year-old, who lives with her husband Alex and son Jasper, 17, in Brookes Lane, Whalley, quit her job as a nurse after 15 years and has run the charity for the last five years.

The charity, which has six trustees, currently supports 21 children through four years of secondary education in the region.

More than £20,000 has been raised by Therese and her team to help the youngsters and they have also received donations from organisations including Stonyhurst College.

The college’s charity, Learning to Care, has recently donated £1,400 to the charity, guaranteeing that a child will receive four more years of education after attending primary school.

Therese said: “In the following years after my visit to Kenya I witnessed the rapid development of the country and how these changes are now also a fact of life for this Maasai community.

“So I wanted to do something to improve the educational entitlement for the Maasai children in this area.

“Whenever we assist a young person from one of the village communities we know it prepares them for the inevitable changes they will experience in their culture.

“This year is really exciting because Maachild’s first beneficiaries are just about to leave school.

“We have started providing solar lamps to replace the paraffin lamps which are used in their homesteads which also cause numerous respiratory health problems.

“Without adequate light, the children can’t study properly.

“I’m really proud of what we have achieved over the last decade and we are hoping to support 40 children at any one time by the time of our tenth anniversary.”

A spokesman for Stonyhurst’s charity Learning to Care said: “We are delighted to be helping Maasai children to receive an education, which will improve their lives and those of their families.

“Therese gave an inspirational talk at Stonyhurst about her charity and our students were determined to help.

“We will be keeping in touch with Maachild’s work with interest.”