Corporate Social Responsibility
Making a difference in Guinea Bissau
In the tiny, impoverished West African state of Guinea-Bissau, educational opportunities are scarce. One of the few resources available was the Tcihico Te Teacher Training College. A group of young trained teachers, unpaid and without schools to teach in, formed T5 [Tchico Te Teacher Training Team], which is an NGO [Non Governmental Organisation - ie no state funding] in order to start their own school in 2 dilapidated classrooms. They soon had 50 pupils and desperately needed to expand.
At this point (February 2006) Star Events Group guaranteed the rent on a new school with 12 classrooms. With borrowed furniture the school (T5 Star Events School) steadily expanded, providing courses for over a thousand pupils. In October 2007 Star Events Group provided furniture to entirely equip the the whole school.
By May 2009 the school had over 1,700 students attending on a daily basis. Four more T5 Star Events Group schools had also been established thoughout Guinea-Bissau.
Star Events Group continued to support T5 by organising shipments of educational materials as well as providing direct annual funding. This partnership enabled T5 to become financially self-sustaining by December 2010 . Rather than read what we say about it, please have a look at the school reports, which you can download below. They are an amazing testimony to the resilience and enthusiasm of people living and working in the most difficult circumstances.
Going forward
We are currently (2011) assisting in fundraising for regional schools in Antula, Bafata, Bula and Sao Domingos. These schools serve the very poorest communities in Guinea-Bissau.
If you would like to help in any way, please contact Maddy Sheals by email or on 01234 772233.
Recent School Reports
A T5 website is under construction - which is not as easy as it sounds in Guinea-Bissau! We'll announce it here when its available.
Below you can read the full archive of recent T5 Star Events School Reports (click to download the pdf). For the convenience of regular users of this site, the latest report can also always be found in our main Downloads area.