FIVE West Fife school teachers are heading on an African adventure to continue a literacy and grassroots football programme with the Pars Foundation.

Katrina Muir and Patricia Baird, from St Margaret's Primary, and Janet Kerr, Joanne Lisle and Chris Wilmshurst, from St Leonard's, will fly to Malawi today (Thursday) with the Pars Foundation's Gregor Tennant to build on an ongoing partnership with schools in the country.

They will visit three schools in Karonga, to the north of Malawi, and local nursery children, who will receive donations of books picked by pupils from St Margaret's and St Leonards.

The children were invited to Better World Books, based at Pitreavie Business Park, where they received a tour and the opportunity to each pick a book to send to pupils in Karonga to start libraries in their schools, each of which carries a message from the West Fife youngsters.

The Pars Foundation is a registered charity which is the community arm of Dunfermline Athletic, and assistant manager Gregor revealed that the idea for the trip came from a discussion with Pars fan Wullie Oliphant, who delivers their 'Pars Stars in the Media' initiative, which looks at at literacy through match reports, commentary and interview techniques.

"I asked Wullie if he thought the Pars Stars in the Media programme would work in a foreign country to aid their English, and the next I know, he had tweaked the programme to be relevant to football in Malawi," he explained.

"We chose Malawi after discussions with the Malawi Partnership in Edinburgh, the history of links between Scotland and Malawi dating back to 1859, and the ongoing trade between the two countries makes sense to build further links from grassroots up in education and sport."

Gregor, who will meet local football coaches to share experiences and structures put in place with the Pars Foundation's 'East End Boys' teams to develop players, some of whom have gone on to join the likes of Hearts, St Johnstone, Celtic and the Fife Elite Football Academy, added: "We would like to thank all the parents from St Leonards and St Margaret's who have been part of the fundraising events over the last two years.

"We are all very grateful to Better World Books, who donated the children's books and continue to donate more, as well as having provided a £1,000 grant to purchase kit to deliver literacy sessions in Karonga.

"We are all very enthusiastic and intrigued about what we will experience, all of which will allow us to see where we can help to build sustainable structured programmes which will flourish in a community who are very community-focused and passionate about football; much like Dunfermline, but with so many contrasting challenges."

You can follow the group's experiences in Malawi by following the Pars Foundation's Facebook and Twitter pages.

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