The merger between Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse, that created PricewaterhouseCoopers, a global firm comprising more than 140,000 people in 149 countries, is 10 years old.

In Malta the merger created a professional services firm that now has nearly 300 people on its books.

Globally, the firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers decided to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the merger with an internal fund raising initiative that has so far raised US$2.6 million to build educational facilities in Chad for refugees fleeing the conflict in Darfur.

The firm is partnering the UN on a project that gives it the opportunity to make a substantial, long-term impact in an area of the world which desperately needs help.

The money raised will be used by the United Nations on behalf of PwC to build schools, train teachers, and provide supplies and services to some 20,000 children aged 6 to 14.

In Malta the firm also came up with a novel way of celebrating the anniversary.

John Bonello, chairman and senior partner, said PwC staff climbed into five buses and went to the Majjistral Nature Park at Xagħra l-Ħamra to repair rubble walls, delineate paths and clear some of the numerous piles of debris scattered throughout the park.