THE QUEEN has awarded an MBE to a deputy headteacher from Sandhurst for work which has included transforming lives of those affected by the Rwandan Genocides.
The birthday honours list, originally due to be announced in June, was delayed until Saturday, October 10.
Samantha Hunt, who is the deputy headteacher of Sandhurst School in Owlsmoor, has been awarded an MBE for her work in helping it to be known as a beacon school – an example of outstanding provision in holocaust and genocide education.
This includes its Reaching Rwanda programme, which enables students to develop friendships with survivors of the Rwandan genocide and orphaned street children, and to take action to create a lasting benefit in their lives.
Students at the school have raised nearly £160,000, which has been used to build and renovate an entire village for genocide survivors. Work has now started on a second village.
In addition, the project has provided finance for more than 40 businesses, providing an income for more than 100 genocide survivors; it has paid to educate 37 children; provide water pumps for two survivor villages; farm animals to more than 30 destitute families; and delivered tonnes of equipment that can be used by three schools and three centres for street children.
The coronavirus lockdown in Rwanda has delayed the building of a small educational centre for children, providing free tuition plus programmes in art, music, drama, dance and sport.
The school has shipped out 2.5 tonnes of resources and a team of staff have been busy cataloguing and stamping every resource, including 4,302 books.
It is intended to start teaching from temporary premises to meet demand from children.
As a result of these initiatives, Sandhurst School has been assessed in great detail by the Institute of Education at UCL and is now one of only 14 schools in the country to achieve the Quality Mark for this area of education.
Ms Hunt said that she was delighted, honoured and humbled to have been nominated for the MBE.
“Working with genocide survivors in Rwanda has been the greatest privilege of my life and the work I have done there has only been possible through an amazing charity, Survivors Fund,” she explained.
“The staff at Survivors Fund are truly dedicated to helping survivors rebuild their lives after genocide, and being part of that has been a life-changing experience for me.
“Working at Sandhurst School has also been such a privilege and I would like to thank Debbie Smith, the Headteacher, the staff and our fantastic students who have been so supportive of everything I have tried to achieve.
“I would like to thank Bernadette Ferne who gathered evidence for the nomination.”
She added: “At Sandhurst School we believe in giving students the opportunity to make a positive difference in the world and everyday our students make me swell with pride with their enthusiasm to get involved in making the world a better place.”
This year’s delayed Birthday Honours have been extended to included additional awards to people who have made contributions during the coronavirus pandemic, including doctors, nurses, fundraisers and volunteers.
In a statement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest health challenge in our lifetime.
“We all have to play our part, but the dedication, courage and compassion seen from these recipients, be it responding on the frontline or out in their communities providing support to the most vulnerable, is an inspiration to us all.
“We owe them a debt of gratitude and the 2020 Queen’s Birthday honours will be the first of many occasions where we can thank them as a nation.”
