A MERSEA charity working to improve the lives of youngsters in Namibia, has received a big boost.
 

The Catherine Bullen Founation was well on the way to raising the £70,000 needed for a third dormitory at the Eiseb Primary School Hostel in the country’s remote rural east.
 

But now, thanks to a £15,000 donation, trustees and supporters have to find just £11,077.
 

Trustee and chairman Roger Bullen said: “Our application ticked all the boxes and met the donor’s criteria to such an extent that it resulted in us getting the maximum amount possible for which we are extremely grateful.”
 

The money has come from a family foundation, which wishes to remain anonymous, but which support projects relating to population control, education, health and the environment, both in this country and abroad.
 

The plight of the expanding hostel, which now caters for more than 200 pupils, has been highlighted in the Gazette and the Namibian press.
 

More than half the children sleep on the cold floor of their rooms for the past two years, while up to three children are forced to share a single mattress in both the girls’ and boys’ dormitories.
 

Some children have been sleeping under the beds of their hostel mates due to the chronic shortage of space.
 

The new dormitory is part of a larger project to upgrade the hostel.

• Donations can be made online at www.namibia-aid.org.uk or by sending a cheque to The Catherine Bullen Foundation, 15 Colchester Road, West Mersea, Colchester, CO5 8RS.