The trainee-developed initiative has now been running for 11 years, with over 200 trainee solicitors taking part and around €600,000 being raised to fund the project’s activities.

It was set up to honour the firm’s legacy by reaching out to the communities that its founder, Fr Arthur Cox, sought to help when he travelled to Zambia as a priest in the 1960s.

The project aims to raise standards of living in some of the most rural regions of Zambia by developing sustainable health, education and agricultural infrastructure in partnership with local communities.

Trainees Aoife Coll and Jamie Brislane told Irish Legal News that they saw joining the 24-person team as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and a “very worthwhile project”.

While in Zambia, the trainees attended the opening of a school in Munyona Central that had been built with the assistance of trainees in 2017.

Ms Coll and Ms Brislane said: “As soon as we arrived it was clear how much it meant to the local community to have such a facility; we were greeted by what seemed like the entire village before being schooled in how to dance by the local children.”

This year’s cohort of trainees helped to build a school in Sintemba, where local children have had to study outdoors.

The trainees said: “When a school is built for the children in these areas, the attendance levels increase dramatically and have in fact doubled in the first radio school supported by Arthur Cox, Hakalinda.”

They added: “While overall it was an amazing experience, there were a few challenges. Some of the building work was quite tough as there were no machines or equipment so everything had to be done by hand. It is currently winter in Zambia and temperatures at night were low so we really felt the cold sleeping in tents.

“Of course with challenges come rewards. Apart from having a new sense of appreciation for toilets, running water, and showers we have learned how lucky we are in Ireland to have access to education and the challenges we face here really do not compare to those faced in Zambia and similar countries.”