Be part of something wonderful....PLEASE.

Craig and his sons are taking on a fantastic (if gruelling challenge) to help to raise the money to sink a bore hole in a small Village.....  

I thought you might like to know a little bit about the project and how my friendship with the village started and why I am asking you to please help me make this dream come true.

I was introduced to the Village of Kiseeka a few years ago. It is a village in Uganda, East Africa which is a very poor (and corrupt) country.

A friend, Julie, who sponsors a number of children in the village was visiting and she came across a little girl lying on a doormat in a doorway. She had only her grandparents and an elder sister and had no bed to sleep on. I had recently lost my beloved Mum who LOVED children and so I thought that an effort to make Liberty's life a successful one, would be a fitting tribute to her. 

Liberty was a very sad and shy little girl who found it hard to be with people. Her Mum is very ill (mentally) and her dad is absent. I decided that I would like to buy her a mattress and send her to school and I started that a few years ago. I asked my friend to go to the market and buy her a doll and this is Liberty with that doll. It was her first ever toy.

 While she was there Julie sent me a photo of a little girl with some health problems ( a huge umbilical hernia). Her Mum couldn’t afford to have her checked over and so I paid for that. It was a total of £40 which was not so much to me, but when you consider that in Uganda a qualified teacher earns £600 per annum, you soon realise how prohibitively expensive this amount is. A hernia can of course be fatal if it strangulates and would be treated so very routinely in this country. A scan was done and it was decided that as Suzanne is happy and active and otherwise in robust health, and with the risks of paediatric surgery in a third world country, that she was best left alone. She is though on someones radar now. I always knew that Suzanne would have to stay as part of my 'family' and when she turned four my youngest son Max decided to sponsor her through her education.

Here is Suzanne. She has a lovely Mum and three sisters and is a happy, loved and sociable girl, just starting school.

 The Village has no running water and no electricity and the families live in very poor circumstances. Many of the men folk just move away and children are often abandoned. Women are at risk of attack and rape and it is difficult for people to break the cycle of poverty when they have no education.

 A lady called Doreen runs a project called Christs Grace Ministry (you can see it on Facebook ) https://www.facebook.com/www.careforthem.org

and she raises money for the village and runs and orphanage and buys supplies for those most in need.

I now recruit new sponsors and raise money as I am able for various projects..

 The children walk about 3 kms every morning to fill up jerry cans with water from a water hole which is used by animals too. This water is used for all their basic needs.

Here is one of the boys with a Jerry can. It must be very hard for these children to carry them when full,but needs must.

Recently I asked an engineering company to visit the village to see if they could find a source of water. They drilled into the ground and a bore hole can be made. This is basically a well that is dug a long way down until it finds water, and then the water is pumped up to the surface. This is what it will look like in the end.

 It will be sunk in the centre of the village and people will be able to get fresh drinking water 'on tap' for the very first time.

 

 

Craig and his family recently took on the sponsorship of a little girl in the Village and when he heard of the bore hole project he wanted to help to make the dream become a reality.

The total cost is £3000, and Craig hopes to raise £1,000 of this via donations from you lovely people.

In a fantastically generous gesture, a small but perfectly formed Charity called Wood U Waste has offered to match fund up to £1,000 so we REALLY need to reach this target. Just a fiver will become a really meaningful £10 and get us closer and closer to the final amount needed.

 Many people feel that initiatives such as this foster a society that is dependent on charity but I disagree. In villages such as this there is very little way out of this abject poverty without an education.

Fresh, clean drinking water will enhance so many lives, prevent a huge amount of illness, and allow access to water for the most vulnerable who cannot get to the water hole on their own.

 Liberty is now a happy sociable girl and Doreen tells me that sponsorship really makes the children feel loved and important.

 She loves school and is learning to read and write and hopefully can grow into an independent person who can help her family and friends. I look forward seeing to what she will become and in the meantime Doreen updates me and I send regular parcels to keep a bond of friendship and support with her. Sadly her Grandpa has just passed away and so the future for this beautiful little six year old girl has  become a little more precarious but I know that Doreen will ensure that her needs are met.

 

 

 

Each and every one of you will be part of a wonderful thing.

Could you pop in a pound???

Thankyou, from the bottom of my heart.

You can sponsor Craig and his boys here

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/edward-thackray?utm_term=yqYRpM6Z5&fbclid=IwAR3ZpHDJxEEb4th_M8XKw51tF9OfaLrjIlfKrt0DU_lUD5j-yaEGVFhBSNU