After finishing her A-levels, Amelie made a last-minute decision to postpone her place reading psychology at Durham University to take a gap year in Zambia. She was already familiar with the country having visited family and friends out there on various holidays, but this time she wanted to see it from a different perspective with friends.

As hoped, Amelie and her friends were thoroughly enjoying their adventure until a freak accident happened whilst white water rafting one day. Having been reassured by instructors that the area below the falls was safe to swim in, Amelie was viciously attacked by a rogue crocodile which pulled her into a death roll beneath the surface of the water. Amelie and her friend heroically fought back and luckily managed to escape.

However, both Amelie’s legs were badly bitten by the crocodile and hospital staff in Zambia’s capital Lusaka battled for six days to save her legs from the injuries sustained and from infection. During this time, the medics were incredibly supportive and even made exceptions to the rules in order to link Amelie to Wi-Fi so she could be in contact with her family back in the UK.  

Amelie said, “I was in and out of surgery every day so I couldn’t eat because of the anaesthetics.  I couldn’t have got through it without the support of my friend and my Granny who both came to the hospital. I was trying to explain my injuries over the phone to my family in the UK but also trying to downplay it to them as there was nothing they could do being so far away. It was hard for them and my friends to imagine the extent of my injuries, as the closest thing they could relate it to was a dog bite, but a crocodile attack is so violent that you get injuries on your body even where it doesn’t touch you.  Something in my wrist was shattered just from it rolling me around under water.”

Once Amelie was finally stabilised, she was flown back to the UK and spent time in and out of hospital in London for further follow-up operations. Her doctors are now optimistic that she will be able to walk again even though the timeline is a little open-ended.

It’s the sort of trauma most people would struggle with but Amelie is determined not to let this have a negative impact on her life. On the contrary, she wants to associate something positive with the accident and also show others in traumatic situations that by focusing on a positive project it can help you get through the tough times. Whilst she was lying in hospital her thoughts drifted to the children in the village they had met earlier on in their trip and who had given her a tour of their ‘school’. In reality, they were all taught together by one teacher on the floor of the village church. Amelie decided she wanted to raise money to build them a proper school building with a classroom for each year group, desks, chairs, books and teachers.

Amelie quickly got to work on the project and has already raised over £13,000 on Just Giving but has a target of £50,000 to ensure she can provide everything the children need. She has even added a school bus to the list of requirements which will ensure the children from the neighbouring village can get to the school more easily than they do now.  She knows first-hand just how much the school would mean to the children as she is in regular contact with them since being back in the UK.  

Amelie said, “When I was in hospital the kids kept sending me messages.They are smart children who want to learn and become doctors and teachers. I want to help them and break their cycle of poverty.”

Amelie’s next step is to raise more awareness for her project and she aims to have the school finished by the time she heads off to university in October. As soon as she is able to walk, she plans to fly back out to Zambia to visit the children again and help the local people build this beacon of hope for their children and for many generations to come.  

If you would like to learn more about Amelie’s project, please click here.