In Cambodia, the new academic year has just started. This means thousands of children will enter one of the schools built by our ongoing charity partner, United World Schools (UWS), for the very first time.

The first day of school is always an exciting one. UWS allows thousands of previously out-of-school children to experience this excitement, and to receive an education that could change their lives. We are proud to support them with our ‘Bag for a Bag” initiative which means that for each bag we sell on our website we donate the funds for a school bag for a child in Cambodia.  This provides thousands of students with a school bag filled with all the stationery they need to participate in lessons.

School bags not only help students to take care of their books when they’re travelling to and from school, but they also play an important symbolic role. Since UWS students don’t wear a uniform, the bags help develop a school identity. Olivia, a UWS employee, recently visited the schools in Cambodia and saw first-hand just how treasured the bags are:

"Before the new school had even been opened, the children were proudly wearing their new school bags, even though there was nothing in them. For many of them, this bag signifies so much more than simply a school bag; it will be their first true possession and something which unites them.”

By purchasing a bag from Vida Vida, you’re helping to educate some of the world’s poorest and most marginalised children and for that we thank each one of you as do the lovely kids.