Eaglesham teacher’s bake-a-long is getting families in the Easter mood plus raising money at the same time

Rachel Peebles, age 40 from Eaglesham, teaches local babies, toddlers, pre-school and primary age children in Busby, and Uddingston in South Lanarkshire, using the award winning La Jolie Ronde Programme. This week she held an online “Spanish bake-a-long” fundraiser with students and their families.

Rachel said: “I was really nervous and I didn't know how it would work BUT I was amazed at how well all my fantastic little bakers got on! We had 16 families, including 25 children, taking part and we had so much fun chatting in Spanish, baking, singing Spanish songs. We made magdalenas (Spanish muffins) and nidos de pascua (Easter nests) – it was just amazing and everyone really enjoyed spending family time together”.

As well as bringing families together for lots of Easter fun, all money raised from the bake-a-long will go directly to support Bolivian charity - Fundación Totaí. Fundación Totaí is a small charity in Trinidad-Beni, Bolivia, that provides low cost, quality health care in the community, and sports and education programmes for children. Bolivia, is close to Rachel's heart, as it's where she lived for 9 years and is where she began speaking Spanish every day, learning from the children and families in this Christian community project that she worked and supported.

“We're raising money to provide tablets and internet access at the project in Bolivia that I used to work at, so children from the local neighbourhood can go and do their online schoolwork. There have been no face-to-face school classes in Bolivia since last March and most children have no access to laptops, tablets, phone or internet to do their lessons.

"The goal is to raise around £1,500 which is enough to provide 6 tablets to facilitate 3 small classes to run daily, which will benefit up to 18 children a day. We also want to provide internet access, trainers for children at the football school who don't have suitable shoes to train in, and food packs for families who are struggling due to covid and recent flooding in the area. I'm so grateful for all my students and families that have supported my bake-a-long events and donated” added Rachel.