Victoria Climbié Charitable Trust Homepage

The Victoria Climbie Charitable Trust - NEWS UPDATE:

The schoolwas granted a licence from the Ivory Coast Government to allowthe education of children to begin in September 2008. The school will formally open in the Autumn of 2009.
- Your donations will help to ensure there are sufficient funds to run the school. The more money that is raised, the more children can be educated. It costs approximately £23,000 a year to run the school. The salary of a teacher is £1,000 per annum.
- The charity is delighted that the Yorkshire International Business Convention is supporting the charity again in 2009.Mike Firth and Paul Sewell will visit the school in May 2009, accompanied by the Chief Executive of the Hull Chamber of Commerce, Carolyn Burgess. This visit will also be supported by Nigel Richardson, Director of Children's Services in Hull. The purpose of this visit it develop links between the school and the North East, as well as exploring the possibility of providing a health centre from the school site.
- Your support is vital to us. Together we can make a real difference to the lives of many vulnerable children in memory of Victoria Climbie. Please give generously to provide the school with a sustainable future.

Victoria Adjo Climbié died at St. Mary's Hospital, London, in February 2000. She had endured appalling abuse at the hands of her great aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and Kouao's boyfriend, Karl Manning.

Victoria's parents, Francis Climbié and Berthe Amoissi, sent their daughter from the Ivory Coast to stay with her aunt in Europe, believing that she would receive a better education (a common practice in West Africa). Instead, Victoria suffered months of neglect and beatings, and died of hypothermia.

After Victoria's death, Alan Milburn, then health secretary, ordered a statutory inquiry, headed by the former chief inspector of social services, Lord Herbert Laming. In his report, published in January 2003, Lord Laming stated that one of the most striking features of Victoria's case was the sheer number of occasions (12) when the most minor and basic intervention from the many social workers, police officers and doctors who saw Victoria's injuries, could have saved her.

In the wake of the Government's Children's Green Paper, Victoria's parents established the Victoria Climbie Charitable Trust, to commemorate the life of their daughter, and to build a school in the Ivory coast in her memory.

Victoria's mother Berthe has issued the following appeal: ''If this school is built in Victoria's memory, I will know that Victoria will not have died in vain.''

The Trust

Background:

The Victoria Climbie Charitable Trust was founded to build a lasting memorial to Victoria Climbie, and to ensure something positive comes out of the tragic circumstances surrounding her death.
The trust hopes to realize Victoria's parents' vision of building a primary school in Abobo, an area of the Ivory Coast near to where Victoria was born. It is hoped the school will give local children the educational opportunities that the family believe Victoria could not have had if she stayed in the Ivory Coast.

Currently, the nearest state school to Abobo is half a day's drive away and many children in the area do not receive any education as a result.

Although, there is a small private school nearby, many cannot afford the fees.

The Trust:

The VCCT was founded by Francis and Berthe Climbie, Victoria's parents.

Other Trustees are Mor Dioum and Caroline Ingram, long term supporters of the family.

The Trust is a UK registered charity, number 1099695.

The Trust is working in partnership with ONEF, an NGO which specialises in the family, child protection and education projects in the Ivory Coast.

The Trust has close links with the NSPCC.