Havering College Christmas Boxes spread festive cheer

A little bit of festive cheer came early when students from Havering Colleges’ Ardleigh Green campus in Hornchurch took up a week’s work experience at the Jermain Defoe Foundation in Romford – packing Christmas boxes to send to vulnerable children in the Caribbean. 

The Foundation was launched in 2013 by England footballer Jermain Defoe to support homeless and abused children in his family’s home country of St Lucia. Since then the Foundation has expanded to surrounding Caribbean Islands and the UK – and Jermain has been awarded an OBE for his charity work.
The students, all studying on the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programme at the college, enjoyed the experience of decorating and covering the boxes, choosing appropriate gifts to go in them, packing them and then loading them into vehicles in order to be shipped abroad.
Student Mamadou Gando Bah, 17, said: “I’ve been very happy to work here. I have enjoyed it and it is a good feeling knowing that we are helping children to have a nice Christmas.”
Nicola Charles and Dexter Tyler, from the Foundation, both said the students had been a great help. Nicola added: “They have been a joy to work with – they are such good representatives of the college.