![]() Montezuma’s Chocolates have raised an amazing £12,898 for our work this year with their ‘Bags of cash’ scheme. Our good friends over at Montezuma’s Chocolates have been supporting us in many different ways for several years now. From sponsoring our annual Easter Trail event in Priory park, to a dizzyingly fun-packed charity week, to both sponsoring, running and stocking the goodie bags for our Chichester Half Marathon, they’ve made a tremendous difference to the children we work with across the world. In addition to these events, one of the ways Montezuma’s have been raising money for our work is through their ‘Bags of Cash’ initiative. In each of their five stores, staff have been highlighting the plight of the children we support in Soweto Slum, Uganda, and asking customers to donate a few coins to us when they use a carrier bag. Over the last year, through this simple scheme, the five stores have raised a whopping £12,898, which is enough to pay for 70 children in Uganda to benefit from pre-school education for a year, with daily breakfast and lunch, and regular support from a trained social worker. Carrie Burton, Area Retail Manager at Montezuma’s says “We are so proud to be able to help such a fantastic charity and are continually amazed at the generosity our customers show when donating for our paper bags or supporting our charity weeks. I was fortunate to experience this first hand when a customer donated a cheque for £1000 pounds for paper bag! I'm still amazed every time I think about it. Whether it's 1p or £1000 every single donation makes a huge difference and we're proud to help in any way that we can”. The ideals that Montezuma’s started out with have stayed with the company and are firmly rooted in every part of what they do. Montezuma’s is a business where ‘substance wins over style, where sustainable and organic business growth wins over greed and where a Trading Fairly Policy sweeps a path of ethics covering everything..’. Esther Smitheram from Children on the Edge commented, “We are so privileged to benefit from Montezuma’s commitment to values, and in our own small way, be a part of their expression of ‘substance’. We’d like to say a huge thank you not only to their generous chocolate loving customers, but to the Montezuma’s staff who continue to support and promote Children on the Edge so ably”. To find out more about the magic of Montezuma’s and learn more about the work they are currently focussing on in Uganda. ![]() This year’s Easter Chocolate Trail, sponsored by the wonderful Montezuma’s Chocolates will be celebrating a decade of spring time fun and learning. If you come down to Priory Park on Easter Saturday (19th April) you’ll find a fun-filled Easter Trail with a difference. We have organised this popular family event each Easter Saturday in Chichester for the last ten years. Each year has presented local children with a different theme, twist or challenge, and this anniversary event is no exception. To celebrate 10 years of the event and 10 years of us being based in Chichester, we are using the trail to highlight 10 children’s rights that we support around the world. All the work of Children on the Edge is guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. Through an array of interactive stands at this year’s event, children can explore and learn about their own rights, find out about the lives of other children around the world and collect delicious Montezuma’s chocolates along the way. Alongside the trail there will be the usual array of treats and refreshments including O’Hagan’s sausages, fete games, bouncy castle, tombola and much more, both indoors and outdoors, so come along rain or shine! Primary School children around the area will also be designing their own Easter Eggs for Montezuma’s Chocolates, in order to win an egg with their design on it. The two winning entries will be presented with their eggs at the Easter Trail. If your child would like to enter, just download the flyer which includes the egg shaped entry form, and send their designs to us at the office, or drop them into the Montezuma's Store in Chichester. Entry fee for the trail is £4.00 for 1 child, £7 for 2 or £10 for 3. Do call the Children on the Edge office with any queries on 01243 538530 or e-mail [email protected]. ![]() Horse racing is a common fixture in the British sporting diary but a very special type of horse racing event happened at Fittleworth Village Hall on the evening of Thursday 27th February. The hall became, as if by magic, an elaborate flat race course, complete with Tote, steward’s offices and licensed bar, all wonderfully co-ordinated by Nick Rowley from Moonlight Events. Chris Taylor, one of our Children on the Edge Ambassadors, organised a night to remember with a novel set of horse races to keep the punters entertained. The packed programme comprised six sponsored races, each having six imaginatively-named horses; a surprise double-jockey relay race, and a grand final. The chosen jockeys, all sporting ‘full safety equipment’ (amounting to little more than a flimsy cap), mounted their saddles (village hall chairs) and, upon a shrill blast of the steward’s whistle, began frantically to wind-in their wooden steeds using just a short length of broom handle and string. The jockeys were facing in the same direction as the horses which meant that they didn’t have a clue who’d won, until the steward blew his whistle again. As you can imagine, this was a very serious business – as was the betting. After all, who can resist a small flutter on a fine filly? After a short gastronomic break, of fish & chips, the final race, the Douglas & Gordon Derby, was won by Anna McMorran on Albert, holding off a stern challenge from a jockey too shy to be mentioned. Her prize was a huge silver cup (exquisitely crafted from cardboard and tin foil) and a bottle of champagne – which looked surprisingly real. It proved to be a most enjoyable evening for all those who attended and what’s more, a staggering £1400 was raised for Children on the Edge - almost without the race-goers noticing! Children on the Edge would like to thank Chris and his team as well as all the race-goers who made this such a huge success. Thanks also go to Martin and Chris who provided this write-up. If you have some kind of imaginative plan to raise money for our work, just get in touch! ![]() If you are a keen walker or even a gentle ambler, you may be interested in joining one of our Ambassadors, Dr Chris Taylor, on a series of walks through stunning Dorset scenery, to be held between the 4th and 6th of April, in loving memory of Georgina Maxse. They are a wonderful way to experience new walks with old friends and to make new friends on the way, choosing exactly how far you want to walk. All money raised will be supporting both Children on the Edge and Cancer Research UK. Day one will be taking in the sites around Berwick St John, Alvesdiston, Win Green Hill, Swallowcliffe Down and the Ox Drove. The second day is a glorious downland circuit via Zig Zag Hill, Charlton Down, Win Green Hill to lunch at Tollard Royal, returning via the very pretty village of Ashmore and Compton Down. The last day consists of country lanes, trails, farm tracks and Roman roads around Gussage Hill, Cranborne and Pentridge Hill. If this sounds appealing, why not sign up for a half day walk, a full day walk, pubbing and picnicking or doing all three days! There’s even an option to take your dog along for the journey. Just have a look through the full information and, if you’d like to partake, download a form and send it to [email protected]. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Chris, Sally Marien and Barbara Roberts (with the help and encouragement of Tony Maxse) for organising such a fantastic event, and we hope the sun shines on you all! ![]() We’ve written a lot about different sporting challenges our supporters set themselves. From running marathons to cycling across countries, but we haven’t ever had anyone row the Atlantic! Until now… Alan Lau, will be rowing solo and unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for Children On The Edge. He will be setting off from Gran Canaria early December 2014 and arrive approximately 90 days later in Barbados, covering a distance of 3,000 miles using only the power from his oars. As a motorcycle racer, triathlete, long distance cyclist and a gravity enduro mountain biker, Alan is not unfamiliar with challenges. He has dreamed about crossing oceans in a boat since his childhood and the dream started to become reality in winter 2008 when he was inspired by reading the story of another ocean rower coming to the end of her challenge. In addition to raising funds for our work, Alan is also hoping that his adventure will inspire others to step outside of their comfort zones. The boat “CurryFishball” that will be used for the crossing has been specially built by Rossiter Yachts, a family run business spanning 3 generations of boat builders who Alan has really enjoyed working with; “I feel safe knowing that my boat has been built by Cris Rossiter and his team.” At the moment, his expedition is self funded, with a very lean team helping preparations. During the expedition itself, only the safety co-ordinator will be involved from land, to provide weather information and co-ordinate communications. To engage with the community and to help raise awareness as well as funds, Alan has decided to run several competitions and raffle draws for school children to get involved in. Competitions range from creating the best theme for the boat to be painted with to designing the T-shirt graphics for the team. There will even be an opportunity to win short trips in the boat. In addition, Alan will be promoting the event at the Southampton Boat Show in September 2014. To find out more and to get involved, check out Alan’s Atlantic Challenge Facebook page Children on the Edge is delighted to have been awarded funding by the Big Lottery Fund, to scale up our work with working children in Bangladesh.
Since 2009 we have been working with our partner MUKTI, in Bangladesh, providing a chance for working children in the Cox’s Bazar area to gain an education that would otherwise have been unobtainable. Building on this work, the lottery grant will contribute to the costs of the programme for the next three years and enable us to increase the number of working children in our Community Schools to 900 per year. The grant has also made it possible for us to recruit an additional 36 teachers making a total of 108 teachers across all the Community Schools, all benefitting from full teacher training in child friendly techniques, and the delivery of curriculums which have been specially developed for students who have encountered barriers to education. The Big Lottery Fund is the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding and is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need. Rachel Bentley, Director at Children on the Edge says “Our aim is to create an opportunity for children who have been denied all access to learning, to gain an education and have a chance each day to just be a child. This education is key to breaking cycles of poverty and discrimination and we’re delighted to have the backing of the Lottery in making this a reality for thousands of children”. Over the next five years we will be focussing particularly on the introduction of child based student councils, training children as evaluators and encouraging them to take a lead in monitoring and planning. They will also be meeting with community leaders on an annual basis to voice their opinions. Working children in the Community Schools will be working towards a three year goal of graduation into mainstream primary education. We will be resourcing staff to negotiate these places with local schools and to work alongside parents to raise awareness about the importance of education for their children. Find out more about the Community Schools in Bangladesh. ![]() Later this year, the Children on the Edge Chichester Half Marathon will be back for a third year, but to keep our runners busy in the meantime, we have the Spring Marathon season sweeping across the UK! This year we have seven runners taking on marathons (including the Virgin Money London Marathon and the Brighton Marathon) in order to raise money for Children on the Edge. Over the next few weeks we will introduce to you to a few of our Brighton Marathon runners, but right now we’d like you to meet our 2014 London Marathon runner, Ben Geralds. As a former employee of The Body Shop, Ben has been involved in fundraising initiatives for Children on the Edge before. Ben started running in 2011 to keep in shape after giving up rugby in his early twenties. After getting the running bug, Ben has been running regularly and when he heard we had a place available for the London Marathon 2014, he jumped at the chance to apply for it. “Having a keen interest in sport, I have always had running a Marathon on my Bucket list, with the London Marathon for me as the pinnacle of all marathons to run in the world. When I lost 10st between July 2011 and May 2012, this became an achievable target, and in December 2012 I ran the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon (in what can only be described as a bog!), in just over 4:30hrs. I was then lucky enough to hear about the opportunity to run the 2014 London Marathon on behalf of Children on the Edge, jumped at the chance and was incredibly lucky and honoured to be selected to fly the flag.” Taking on the challenge of one marathon is a big enough task for most runners but Ben has decided to take it even further: “I think fundraising for such an amazing charity needs to be extra special. Therefore I have taken the plunge to run not one but three marathons in 2014 – Brighton, London and Berlin – all wearing my Children on the Edge colours. Any amount of awareness that I can raise alongside my fundraising will be fantastic and I’m proud to be able to do this – even at 6am at the start of my long training runs!” Three marathons is an incredible feat of running and we are completely in awe of Ben’s dedication both to his running and his fundraising. His target is £2,500 and his company have kindly agreed to match what Ben raises. It costs just £100 a month to provide pre-school education for 10 children at the Child Friendly Space in Soweto Slum, Uganda. This has become a community-changing programme that protects, educates and nourishes vulnerable children. The money Ben, and our other runners, raise this spring will go towards transforming communities like this and returning childhood to hundreds of children living on the edge of their societies. If you’d like to support Ben in his marathon efforts, please visit his JustGiving page. ![]() In response to the widespread poverty and isolation in North Korea, Children on the Edge will be partnering with the North Korean Children’s Assistance Program in their work with 5,500 children in dire need. The programme currently provides food, warm clothing, and essential supplies to children in over a dozen schools and twenty state orphanages. Orphanages are given priority as malnutrition in these institutions is widespread. Our partners are in the unique position of having the approval of the central government, who have asked them to expand their reach into increasingly remote and destitute areas. In a country which thrives on secrecy, our partner’s founder Professor Sang Lee, has slowly forged relationships and built trust with key officials and teachers. As a result, the North Korean Children’s Assistance Program has access into parts of the country which were previously considered unreachable by any international organisation. In spite of the unprecedented access granted to it, the programme is still only able to meet a fraction of the needs at the institutions in which it works. Harsh living conditions and regular food shortages mean that day-to-day life of children in North Korea, especially those living in institutions, is a struggle. Despite its current success, the programme is in serious need of support as it endeavours to reach the neediest areas of the nation. Children on the Edge will be supporting this programme by helping to raise money to respond to the current need. Our aim is to build relationships in country as we support this programme, so that in the longer term we can contribute our own unique expertise of working with marginalised and orphaned children. As the country opens up, our hope is that we can encourage the reform and de-institutionalisation of the child care system. We are currently pursuing funders for this unique and pioneering project, please get in touch if you are aware of parties that may be interested in supporting the initial stages of this work. ![]() On 30 January 2014, reports from Free Burma Rangers stated that Burma Army troops attacked Nam Gau Village in Kachin State, Burma, firing at and capturing 18 villagers. The fighting worsened the following day, with reinforced Burma army troops attacking an additional village to the south with heavy mortar and machine gun fire. Most residents of both villages had already fled due to a previous attack in November, now nearly all remaining families have fled, despite attempts by the Kachin Independence Army to defend the area. The backdrop of the current attacks is the breaking of a 17 year long ceasefire in 2011 between the Burma Army and the Kachin Independence Army, the ensuing conflict has taken thousands of lives and forced over 100,000 Kachin people from their homes. They are now living in crowded camps, often cut off from aid and essential services. Confined within these camps are thousands of Kachin children who cope in very difficult circumstances with very little support for their healthy development. Many of these children, in particular those under the age of 6, have known nothing else but war, with daily life offering little escape from the effects of violence and conflict. These children have no access to psychosocial support. After the atrocities stepped up, in June 2012 Children on the Edge were able to deliver vital aid (warm clothes, strategic nutrition and toys) to displaced children on the border near China. As part of this work we conducted a consultation with local groups and a thorough needs assessment. As a result, through partnerships with the Kachin Women’s Organisation and the Kachin Development Group we are providing Early Childhood Development to 1440 children in outlying internally displaced settlements. Although some aid and support has got through to more accessible areas around Laiza, there are 12 higher altitude camps in the northern part of the state that are still cut off. We are focussing on these areas. As well as establishing 12 child friendly Centres for displaced and traumatised Kachin children, we have created a full programme of Early Childhood Development with a robust curriculum. The aim is to allow Kachin children who have known nothing but conflict for the past two years, to simply enjoy being children in a vibrant safe place for a few hours a day and provide them the opportunity to mature into healthy, stable young people. As these recent attacks have made apparent, the problems in Kachin State are not abating. To respond to these needs, alongside the development of 12 Centres, we will be building a training programme for 72 teachers from the IDP camps, with a particular focus on developing child friendly techniques and expertise with children who have experienced trauma. Find out more about the situation from the latest Human Rights Watch Report, and please consider donating to our work here. |
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