About the Zoe Trust
About our work
The Zoe Sarojini Education Trust enables donors, singly or in small groups, to support the education of individual youngsters. As of January 2015, we have been supporting 27 individual children within the Zoe Trust family.
Alongside our individual sponsorship program we have a number of funds which help us to support the education of our children. These include the homework, teacher and enrichment fund. The Zoe Trust also funds and supports the education efforts at Misty Meadows School, a multi-racial, multi-class, multi-grade community school situated in the Dargle Valley in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
We have three trusted and experienced volunteers on the ground who help us select the most suitable youngsters to be supported, channel the funds directly to the relevant funds, and act as mentors to our youngsters.
Our patrons
Helena Kennedy
Helena Kennedy QC, FRSA, (Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws) is a leading barrister, Labour member of the House of Lords and campaigner in human rights law, civil liberties and constitutional issues. She has been a seminal force in promoting equal opportunities for women at the Bar and is Chair of Justice.
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry the British actor, author, television presenter and film director, has written four novels and the autobiography Moab is My Washpot. In 2009 he made and presented a two-part BBC documentary: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, investigating the reality of living with bipolar disorder, which featured Zoë Sarojini’s life and death.
Julia Hobsbawn
Julia Hobsbawm, Zoë’s cousin, founded the knowledge networking business Editorial Intelligence in 2005. In a twenty five year media career spanning Tellex to Twitter, she has worked in book publishing, television and politics. She is the author of several books, including new Editorial Intelligence education books and tutorials on networking for the Curious Corporation.
“The Zoe Trust has widened the support base for these students, such that they know they are not alone, and can reach out for the support that they need.”
A Zoe Trust Mentor
Why we began
The Zoe Trust was set up in 2010 in memory of Zoë Sarojini Schwarz – a loved and loving young woman who suffered from bipolar depression and took her own life in August 2000. Zoë’s family and close friends created the Trust to celebrate her love of life and generosity of spirit.
You can read more about Zoë’s life here.
Our trustees
Emily Young
Current Trustee
Tanya Murphy
Current Trustee
Laura Burch
Current Trustee
Dorothy Schwarz
Current Trustee
Sarojini Vittatchi
Founding Trustee
