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Gary Foxcroft, former pupil of LRGS, has been honoured at the recent Bafta TV Awards 2009, winning the category of best current affairs programme.
The award was for Saving Africa’s Witch Children (Dispatches, C4) which follows the work of his charity Stepping Stones. The charity helps young children in the poorest parts of Nigeria who, as a result of evangelical religious fervour and a belief in sorcery and black magic, have been branded witches.
Gary, who was a pupil at LRGS from 1990-97, went to Nigeria as part of his Masters course at Lancaster University and was moved to set up the charity, which helps some of the most desperate and vulnerable children in the West African country. The Lancaster-based charity has raised funds for a school, accommodation and welfare, but funds are still needed to continue their valuable work.
LRGS has been supporting the charity for the last two years and will continue for the next three. Every year, the boys at the school choose six charities to support (two local, two national and two international) and then they raise funds as part of their Lenten Term Charity Appeal. The boys decided that Stepping Stones should benefit on an ongoing basis. Gary has made several inspirational visits to the school, updating the pupils on the work of the charity and how it is improving the lives of these vulnerable young people in Nigeria.
Headmaster Andrew Jarman said: “I am delighted for Gary. It was a surprise seeing him in black tie on the Bafta platform, as he is usually in jeans and tee-shirt, but he greatly deserves this success. It was a hugely powerful documentary, cataloguing Gary’s fight. In these very remote areas, a sudden unexplained death or crop failure may be blamed on a ‘witch’, often the youngest girl in the village. This accusation sticks and often leads to torture or abandonment, as they see it, to free the area of this ‘evil spirit’.
"Gary and his team provide shelter, comfort, schooling and love for these youngsters. One cannot but admire his humanity. I am delighted that he has been honoured in this way, and that his excellent work has been given another boost of publicity.”
To contribute to Stepping Stones, visit www.steppingstonesnigeria.org
To view the winning documentary, visit www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches
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