SARAH SINGLETON meets Brenda Johnson, who before she retired was a stalwart of the local education scene. Now she spends her time helping disabled children in Zambia

THOUSANDS of miles away, in a remote Zambian school, a group of severely disabled children have a new well with new drainage, piping, a well-equipped classroom, ovens, curtains and quilts — all thanks to the £5,000 raised by Swindon people.

Brenda Johnson, a retired teacher and volunteer from Stratton St Margaret, saw first hand how much the money – raised through cake sales, coffee mornings and donations – improved the lives of some of the most underprivileged children in the world.

After decades working to make life better for troubled children in Swindon, Brenda retired - but her ambition to help others remains.

She travelled out to Zambia for two months this year but, with characteristic modesty, was keen to play down her own contribution and pay tribute to the generosity of Swindon residents, who enabled the improvements at the school.

“What makes the difference, I think, is that the money goes straight to where it is needed, and people know every single penny is used for that,” she says.

Brenda, 68, worked at the school in Mongu, owned by Cheshire Homes and run by two members of the Christian religious order, the Presentation Sisters, from May to July as a volunteer. She helped teach the youngsters and mentored local teachers.

She made her first visit to the school in 2015 and admits the experience was a shock.

“The school was an eight-hour drive through the Kalahari desert in a jeep,” she says. “Lusaka (the capital) had a mix of rich and poor, with both shopping malls and real poverty, but once outside of the city people lived in wooden huts and shacks and shanty towns. It was a real eye opener.”

The school itself is six kilometres from the nearest small town and is home to around 70 children aged three to 16, all of whom have severe disabilities. Many are disabled or have lost limbs as a result of AIDS, snake bites, gangrene or crocodile attacks.

Medical facilities are so poor that such incidents can have terrible lifelong consequences.

The school also has two dormitories for mothers and babies who are suffering from birth defects such as club feet or a cleft lip. A flying doctor visits every three months with a team of technicians, and they carry out corrective surgery to improve the lives of these young children.

Prosthetic limbs are also made on site, and a physiotherapist is on hand to help children develop their motor skills and mobility with the new artificial limbs.

Malaria is another challenge, and on her placement this year, Brenda says they had to take children to the clinic for treatment because of a difficult outbreak.

From time to time the United Nations also brings injured refugees from camps created by the armed conflict in the Congo.

“These people stay for a while; they are fed and clothed and cared for and fitted with prosthetics,” Brenda explains.

“It really teaches me a lesson about my life and how thankful I should be. I wish I could express some of the poverty I have seen. It just blows my mind,” she says.

The story behind the school’s establishment is that Presentation Sisters in Zambia heard crying coming from a shed – and discovered disabled children were locked up inside. At that time, disabled children were considered shameful for a family and were kept out of sight. Some children born disabled were drowned at birth, Brenda explains.

Attitudes towards disability, however, have changed over time. All the staff at the school – cooks, seamstresses, teachers, caretakers and nursing aides, are local people and the care of the young people is excellent.

“There is so much joy and love,” Brenda says. “The emphasis is on what you can do, not want you can’t do. There are slides and swings in the playground, and the children find a way to play.”

Although Brenda has lived in Swindon since 1983, she was born in London. From an early age, she wanted to be a teacher and was inspired by opportunities to teach younger children at school.

She trained at the London Institute and in 1973 took up her first teaching role in Bermondsey, which at that time was an area of high poverty.

After two years, Brenda took an opportunity to work in Virginia, in the United States, teaching and counselling young people who had issues with confidence and self esteem. She had taken a course in counselling and was developing an interest in working with troubled children.

On her return to the UK, Brenda worked at Dorcan School, and then Park South Primary.

Brenda joined the Primary Behaviour Support Team, and worked for many years with children on the verge of being excluded, collaborating with teachers, staff and the local community to support pupils and help them change direction. By the time she retired, Brenda was head of the team.

Brenda became a Roman Catholic when she was a teenager, but although the school in Zambia is run by two members of a religious order, she stresses that the school is not a mission in the sense of trying to convert people.

“They are working to help humankind. It is simply the responsibility of one human to another,” she says. “If I can do something – why not?”

Nonetheless, she pays tribute to Sister Stella and Sister Cathy, both in their 70s, who have worked in Zambia for decades and not only run the school, but have set up various local enterprises to fund it, as well as creating a host of jobs for local people.

They set up a conference centre and residential chalets to take advantage of a new road coming through the area, which has a national park an hour’s drive away. These new ventures, as well as the school, all employ local people.

“They are amazing women and on the go from the time they get up to the time they go to bed,” Brenda says.

“I am just an ordinary woman who, while I have health and energy, wants to give back some of what I have received,” she says. “Lots of people do this.”