Private School News

King’s School Bruton – Gap Year programme in Sinai Peninsula

Six arduous days trekking deep in the heart of the Sinai Peninsula in the burning heat of the Desert of Sin; five nights in the open under the stars of a perfectly clear middle-eastern sky; a technicolour sunrise over the Red Sea and the western mountains witnessed from the very summit of Mt Sinai itself. All this and more was experienced by the members of the 2008/9 King’s Gap Year Programme in order to raise sponsorship money for the children of ICMC Orphanage in Tamil Nadhu, southern India, and to take themselves there as part of their ‘Gap Giving Back’.

Over 1000 orphans and needy children are cared for, clothed, fed, sheltered and educated in this extraordinary orphanage and its associated facilities. The team, now mid-way through its time in India, had the joy and pleasure of delivering personally a substantial cheque for over £16,100 to Rev Dr Jayaraj Krishnan, the founder and leader of ICMC, in the company of hundreds of the children they had come to serve. This considerable sum was the final fruits of the team’s Sinai exertions, now to be used to great effect for the good of so many. As important as the financial gift is the gift of love and care that each team member will offer during their term at the orphanage. As well as doing their best to teach English, help with medical care and simply play with and offer friendship to the children, the team has also managed to give fresh life and colour to much of the dormitory accommodation with vast quantities of paint and copious amounts of elbow grease. Rev Nigel Wilson-Brown, King’s Chaplain and organiser of the programme says, “The exciting King’s Gap Year Programme not only provides so much for so many needy children in India, but also teaches so much to the King’s Bruton boys and girls who commit to our ‘Gap Giving Back’”