Street dancing student Melissa on Africa charity mission

Melissa walking through a neighbouring slum village

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Melissa Burnham, an award winning street dancer from Rochdale, brought smiles to the faces of poverty stricken children in Africa when she took time out from university to teach them some show-stopping moves.

Melissa is hoping to make those children’s smiles even wider with a little help from friends, family and Matthew Moss School.

Her work colleagues will also be sponsoring her fund-raising campaign to build a much-needed community centre for people in the remote village of Lugazi, Uganda, where Melissa spent an unforgettable summer after completing her psychology degree course at York St John University.

Rochdale-born Melissa, 22, who travelled to Uganda with a university friend, explained: “We wanted to do something different over summer before going on to the next phases of our lives. We chose Lugazi after hearing about the work being done to help villagers. It’s in one of the worst slum areas in Uganda. There’s no running water, no proper waste facilities, no shops and many children can’t afford to go to school. They live in huts and life is basic in the extreme. When we arrived it was like looking at one of those scenes you see on Comic Relief TV appeals.”

Despite the poverty Melissa steeled herself to do as much as she could to help.
“You just can’t let the emotions get to you,” she said. “If you do then it’s no help to anyone. We lived like everyone else in the village, getting our water from the well, having bucket baths, eating the same food they did.”

She taught in the local school, and as a result of her psychology studies she was able to help counsel villagers traumatised by war, poverty and family tragedies.

But one of the most rewarding and more fun projects she undertook was teaching local children how to street dance.

Melissa is an award-winning street dancer herself, attends classes in Rochdale, and when she was 17 she was part of a team which won the under 18s newcomers category of the world street dancing championships, held that year in Blackpool. She was also in York University’s street dancing squad.

She said: “In Africa the kids were really good, it was a fantastic escape from daily routine for them, a true ice-breaker. They were quick to learn and had a good laugh, it felt great to help them with an activity they enjoyed so much.”

Now back home and studying for a masters in forensics at Manchester Metropolitan University, Melissa holds down a three day a week job at The Officers Club in Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre.

She said: “The rest of the week I’m at university and the job helps me finance my studies.

"At first no-one at work even knew I’d been to Africa, but when I told them after a few weeks of working at The Officers Club, they were all keen to hear more and support the fund-raising activities.”

Lorenzo O’Reilly, Rochdale Exchange Manager, said: “It’s heart warming and inspirational to hear about all the great work which Melissa is involved in and how her street dancing is an integral part of her project.

“We wish her all the very best and it is lovely to hear how friends, family and colleagues at The Officers Club are backing her fundraising.”

Melissa’s combined work and study timetable is increasingly busy but she makes sure to keep in touch with community leaders in Lugazi and aims to return there once the community centre is built.

“I want to see for myself that it has all the facilities needed to make a real difference to village life. The idea is that it will have three main rooms for important medical procedures, community activities and counselling sessions,” said Melissa, a former pupil of Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School.

She lives with her mum, Louise, dad, Chris and brother Olly. Her mum works at Matthew Moss School, where pupils and staff have been among the biggest supporters of the project.

Melissa said: “The school was already fund-raising for Africa and invited me to give a talk about my experience in Uganda. When they heard about the plight of people in Lugazi they offered to help. We need about £3,000 for the community centre building, half of which has almost been raised and construction work is just about to start.

“I‘ve been keeping in touch via email but contact is irregular because there are no phones or internet in the village and people have to travel miles to find a computer. Even then it is not always connected to the internet.”

She plans to return to Lugazi next year after finishing her masters degree, including a 10,000 word dissertation, which she hopes will help her achieve her ambition to become a chartered forensic psychologist within a prison setting.

“I’ve already visited Buckley Hall prison and will be going back there to chat to some of the prisoners as part of the research I need to do to put together my dissertation,” she said.

“My course doesn’t finish until September, but once that’s done, before I do anything else, l’m determined to get back to Lugazi to see how the community centre is coming along - and hopefully get those kids doing some championship level street dancing!”