This October, PEAS is the featured charity for a BBC Radio 4 Appeal, presented by singer Sabrina Washington. The broadcast shares the story of Viola, a former PEAS student from rural Uganda who returned to the school where she studied, this time as a teacher.
From student to teacher
Viola grew up in a farming family in western Uganda, the fifth of nine children. Her parents grew coffee, bananas and other crops on a small plot of land, and none of her older siblings had completed secondary school.
Getting an education meant travelling a long way. Viola walked 12 kilometres to school and back each day, often through heavy rain. She remembers having one school uniform and arriving at school wet, knowing she would have to make the same journey home again that evening.
But Viola knew she wanted to become a teacher. So, she worked hard and passed her O-Levels, the first person in her family to do so. She then completed her A-Levels and went on to train as a teacher.
Today, she teaches Kiswahili at the same PEAS school she once attended.
This means the young people in Viola’s classroom have a teacher who understands what their lives look like outside the school gates. She understands that some travel long distances to get to school, and others balance their studies with responsibilities at home.
When her students ask her how she managed it, Viola tells them about her own experience and encourages them to think about where their education could take them.
“They are always looking at me as their role model,” she says.
For Viola, becoming a teacher has also made her think about the people who helped her along the way.
Taking Viola’s story to the studio
Last month, Viola’s story travelled from the rolling red hills of Uganda to a recording studio at Broadcasting House in London.
Singer Sabrina Washington, best known as the lead singer of Mis-Teeq, presented the appeal for PEAS.
We were thrilled to have Sabrina involved, and hugely grateful to her for giving her time and voice to PEAS. After months of work behind the scenes, there was something very special about finally sitting in the studio and hearing her tell Viola’s story.
The morning itself was fascinating. Between microphones, headphones, scripts and the quiet of the recording booth, Sabrina worked through the appeal with the producer, making small adjustments and recording sections again until everything was just right.
For our team sitting on the other side of the glass, it was a slightly surreal moment. We know Viola’s story well. We’d read the transcripts, worked on the script and seen her teaching in her classroom in Uganda. Now Sabrina was telling that story to an audience who, in a few weeks’ time, might be hearing about Viola and PEAS for the first time.
PEAS builds and runs high-quality schools in underserved communities in Uganda and Zambia, where we are educating over 27,500 young people every day, however too many young people still face barriers to completing a good education. We also work alongside governments in Uganda, Zambia and Ghana, taking what we learn in our own schools and using it to help improve school leadership, safety, teaching and learning across hundreds more.
Viola’s journey is one story from one PEAS school. But it shows what can happen when a young person has a good school, teachers who believe in them and the opportunity to keep learning.
Now, she is providing that for another generation.
How to listen
The appeal will be broadcast on Sunday 4 October at 07.54 and 21.25 UK time, with another broadcast on Thursday 8 October at 15.27.
If you’re in the UK, you’ll also be able to listen again afterwards on BBC Sounds.
If you’re outside the UK, please tune in live. Listen-again is only available in the UK, so the three live broadcasts are your chance to hear Sabrina tell Viola’s story.
We’d love as many people as possible to listen. If you know someone who might be interested in Viola’s story or PEAS’ work, please send them this article or share the appeal with them.
How to support the appeal
The donation page opens alongside the first broadcast on Sunday 4 October and will remain open until midnight on Saturday 10 October.
And during appeal week, your support can go twice as far.
Two generous PEAS supporters are matching donations up to a total of £25,000. That means every donation made through the appeal will be doubled while match funding is available.
Around £70 bridges the gap between what families can afford and the full cost of educating one student at a PEAS school for a year. Donations to the appeal will help us keep schools like Viola’s running, supporting teachers and giving more young people the chance to get a good education.
You can donate to the PEAS appeal from Sunday 4 October, when the appeal first airs. The donation page will remain open until midnight on Saturday 10 October.
Can’t donate? Listening and sharing helps too. Send the appeal to a friend, share Viola’s story with your network, or help us introduce PEAS to someone new.
Thank you to Viola for trusting us with her story, to Sabrina for telling it, and to everyone who tunes in and gets behind the appeal.
