An Ilford teenager has been nominated for an award after helping to raise money for a school in Kenya he visited with his cricket club.
Zoraiz Saeed is a nominee for the Ilford Recorder/Redbridge Rotary Young Citizen Awards, which bid to recognise the outstanding achievements of young people in the borough aged 25 and under.
The 18-year-old, who goes to Beal High School in Clayhall, travelled to Kenya in October 2022 for a fortnight with his cricket club Wanstead CC.
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Zoraiz has since been raising awareness of his club's fundraiser, which is raising money in order to refurbish the library of a school in Nairobi.
So far, the club has raised more than £5,000 for Kabiro School.
Zoraiz said the club visited the school during the trip in October.
During Zoraiz's visit, he met pupils and coached them on how to play cricket.
He said: "It was great... I did a bit of cricket coaching and then went to a classroom, spoke to the children, asking them questions.
"I loved it... I coach cricket here so coaching cricket over there was really nice.
"It was great to see kids who might not have known what cricket was two years ago now playing at quite a good level."
He continued: "We're very fortunate to not come from an extremely poor background... we're financially okay.
"Going to that school, we saw that [it] was 15 minutes from Nairobi city centre and it was in the slums.
"In terms of what I've done to spread the message, I've sent the link to people, [but] it would be good to raise [even] more awareness."
Beal High School vice principal Ed MacLeod said: "From setting up a cricket club in school for younger children to fundraising for under-privileged youngsters in Kenya, [Zoraiz] is using his sporting talent to help others and is an inspiration to the wider school community.
"As a school we are all so proud of Zoraiz's efforts - he is amongst the very best of Beal."
You can donate to the fundraiser here: www.gofundme.com/f/kabiroschoolrefurb?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined.
The overall winner of the award will receive £100 from Redbridge Rotary Club and will, along with the runner-up, go through to the national Young Citizen final run by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland.
To nominate someone, contact tara.mewawalla@newsquest.co.uk at the Recorder or visit www.redbridgerotaryclub.org/contact giving information about the nomination and contact details.
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