• Question: What made you want to donate this money to schools in Tanzania?

    Asked by ella97 to Cat on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Thanks for asking ella97!

      My life goal is to help animals and humans through preventing disease. Right now I’m researching to improve control of a disease in cattle and wildlife in Great Britain but a lot of money is spent each year on communicating new research to the public. So I thought, well why I don’t I try and have a more direct effect on the heath of humans and animals!

      My best friend is setting up a new school for orphans in Africa and a lot of these kids have HIV or have seen their parents, friends or siblings die from this or other preventable diseases like Malaria. Years ago, I read that if you educate a girl to secondary school/high school level in Africa that this one girl will not only be able to earn more money for herself and her family but she will also have a very positive effect on the whole health of the village she lives in. It’s because of this I want to send all the money (if I win) to this new school so we can start teaching kids as young as 4 all the knowledge they need to help them to stop getting sick and also improve the lives of their future families and neighbours too. And we can do this really easily, by providing these kids with a basic science education. If they learn how medicine or vaccines work, they’ll know not to be afraid of getting help once they are sick.

      Also, I hope that learning about the wonders of science at an early age might make some of these kids want to become scientists in the future too. I think that £500 can have a huge effect on these kids lives so I really hope that you vote for me! 😀 <-I know this is a bit cheeky but I need all the votes I can get 😀

      Hope this answers your question!

      Cat

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