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AFRICA DAY: Thomas Hardye School students raise money for Children in Crisis Africa. Pictured with the cheque are Hannah Antell, Jo Cottee, Tracey Green and Jessica Hewitt

MORE than £2,000 has been raised by a Dorchester school to save a 12-year-old African girl from her desperate life as a prostitute in Zambia.

The Thomas Hardye School held a non-uniform day and other fundraising activities in aid of a child called Naomi who lives in Mufilira in Zambia.

She was taken in by a charity this summer after she was found crying and running at the side of the road in a blood-stained dress.

The small Zambian charity Children in Crisis Africa (CiCA) runs a sponsorship scheme for the 80 children it has rescued from abuse and poverty.

A teacher at the school, Tracy Green, is Naomi's personal sponsor.

She said: "This is an extreme case of abuse on a 12-year-old girl who was being sold for prostitution by her aunt to old men on a daily basis for about 80p a time.

"Both her parents are dead and she has not attended school since grade two.

"She eventually ran away after five years of abuse and was found by the charity with bruises and belt marks on her legs."

She is currently living in a children's home but is expected to be released into the care of a new family in the next few weeks.

After being told the story of the young Zambian girl the pupils at Thomas Hardye School came together and put on a number of activities.

Three girls baked cakes and sold them at break time, pupils sold themselves as slaves to staff for the day, food and drink stalls made hundreds of pounds and the schoo fete raised £590.

1:17pm Saturday 19th July 2008

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