CHILDREN at Liphook’s infant and junior schools enjoyed a visit from representatives of a Kurdish charity with which they are linked.

Three members of STEP, a charity supporting refugees and displaced children in Kurdistan, Iraq, spent time in both schools.

They identified ways in which children are enabled to learn as well as considered ways in which emotional and behavioural support is provided when necessary and how children’s lives in Kurdistan differ from their own.

At the end of the day, the schools were treated to an assembly with the visitors dressed in traditional Kurdish costumes which are worn on celebratory occasions.

They celebrated the support which the schools had shown before Christmas, having filled shoeboxes with various small toys and games, items of clothing, and soft toys and sending them as gifts to children in the region.

The two school’s executive head Michele Frost told The Herald: “It was a great opportunity for the children to find out more about the lives of other children around the world and to see that they can have a positive impact on others. It was a very valuable day for all of us.”

Further to their visit to the schools, there was also a request from the STEP Team to meet with Jack Lambert, of Liphook Mobility, in The Square, to thank him for the donation he had made to STEP last year.

In August, Mr Lambert donated in excess of 500 t-shirts which were despatched by truck to Sulemeniya, in Northern Iraq, where STEP runs the displaced persons camp.

The shirts were hugely popular among the young people in the camp.

Mr Lambert has indicated he might be able to make a further donation of T-shirts this year.