4 November 2004
Over two hundred children from the British International School in Cairo (BISC) have taken part in a drawing competition to highlight the plight of suffering horses and donkeys working across Egypt.
The BISC, founded nearly thirty years ago in the garden of the British Embassy, is now the most established British school in Egypt, catering for 600 pupils representing over 50 different nationalities.
The competition was organised together with the world’s foremost charity for working equine animals overseas, the Brooke. The British-funded charity has been working in Egypt helping working horses and donkeys and their owners for the last 70 years.
The winners and runner-ups of the competition – from the junior and the senior schools – were presented with certificates and prizes at a special reception held at the British Embassy in October, which was hosted by its ambassador, Sir Derek Plumbly, to commemorate the contribution the Brooke has made to the working equine animal population of Egypt. Click here to view the drawings.
The Principal of the BISC, Dr. Peter McLaughlin, explains why the school felt it was vital to get involved with the Brooke: “Both the Brooke and the BISC fundamentally believe in educating young people about the importance of animal welfare. Both organisations believe that learning to treat animals well will ensure that people will also be properly treated.”
The winner of the children’s senior competition, 11-year-old Jacqueline Lin, who was one of 200 children who went to see the Brooke vets in action in Cairo, explains what inspired her to draw the winning picture: “The horses work so hard in Egypt. The vets are very caring and the owners of the animals – some are even as young as me – listen carefully. My drawing shows a horse working hard and with a big plaster on its body. I put a red cross by ‘The Brooke’ because they are the doctors of the animals here in Egypt.”
Editors Notes:
The BISC is the most established British academic school in Egypt., established in 1976 to provide a balanced and challenging education based on British principles and curricula to meet the needs of the children of the expatriate British and Anglo-Egyptian communities; children from the Commonwealth and other countries with educational systems based upon British standards; children of the English-speaking Egyptian community and other nationalities tied to British-type schooling.
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