We are thrilled to announce that the international spirit company Edrington, has donated £25,000 GBP ($31,000 USD) to Friends of Tonga to support our early childhood construction programming! More specifically, this funding will be used to supply all of the materials for the construction of our next Kindergarten, which will be located in the Vava’u island group. More details to come in the coming weeks!
As noted in UNESCO’s 2023 Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education Project (MECCE) profile for Tonga, climate change is posing serious risks to educational achievement in Tonga. Constructing weather resistant schools is one way to meet the burden of climate change and will greatly mitigate some of these challenges. We are humbled by Edrington’s decision to help us provide Tongan students with a safe learning environment, while simultaneously providing the community with a safe consolidation point during the next extreme weather event.
Edrington was one of our early champions and funders for our disaster relief programming, which supported clean drinking water through the distribution of rainwater cisterns across every island group. A big malo to them and their Giving Team for choosing to financially support our organization. We are so thankful for their continued support and look forward to partnering on more needed projects and programs across the Kingdom of Tonga in the future.
To donate to this effort, you can do so here!