AN OXFORD woman who was inspired to set up a charity helping young Sri Lankan women get an education after she tracked down her birth family is holding a fundraising event tonight.

The charity Laptops For Ladies was founded last year by Poppy Royal, 22, who was born on the South Asian island but brought up by her adoptive family in Long Hanborough.

Miss Royal, who now lives in Cowley, is holding the fundraising event tonight at the Oxford Retreat pub in Hythe Bridge Street, and hopes people will also take along old laptops to donate.

Inspired by her biological sister’s struggles to be educated, she wants to help other young women from the country of her birth have a chance to better their career prospects and fight poverty through education.

“I was adopted at five weeks old by my lovely family in the UK where I have been brought up educated, safe and very much privileged,” said Miss Royal, who graduated with a 2:1 in social anthropology from Manchester University and is hoping to go on to do an MA in development practice.

Had she not been, she might have ended up working on a tea plantation in Sri Lanka for low wages and little chance of advancement like her mother, who was forced to give her up through poverty when she was widowed while pregnant.

Miss Royal discovered one of her elder sisters wanted to become a teacher but could not afford to go to computer school and language school to achieve it, so she gave her an old laptop to continue her studies.

“I knew that this forgotten object in my house was the future for her and the opportunity for her to fulfil her dreams of learning,” said Miss Royal, who decided to help other young women follow their dreams.

In August 15 donated laptops were sent to Sri Lanka, and in September she flew over and presented them to 15 women selected by partner charity Upcountry Education Development Society.

She said: “This charity works specifically to help Tamil people gain access to education. On the day we met them, they stressed how difficult it was for these young women to firstly get to university, due to the continued political difficulties that they face.

“Secondly, the struggles they face while studying – access to computers is only possible during the day when the university is open. After that, the girls must leave their assignments behind and try again the next day to find an available computer .”

The fundraising event at the Oxford Retreat runs from 7pm to midnight. There will be cocktail deals, live music and a raffle with prizes donated by local suppliers at about 8.30pm.

For more details about the charity, see laptops-for-ladies.com.