Happy New Year !

2012 is a hugely exciting year for Street Child as we continue to develop our work in Sierra Leone and organise our ground-breaking Sierra Leone Marathon events (a full and half marathon plus a 5k run) on the 9th of June.

In light of this, we warmly invite you, your friends, and anyone else who wants to come along, to join the Street Child team, marathon committee, other charity supporters and runners on Thursday 26th January to hear the latest news on our projects and a preview of our 2012 plans as well as see a presentation on the Kiln Sierra Leone Marathon.

On this night you can:

- Hear the latest new from Street child and a preview of our 2012 plans

- See a presentation on the Kiln Sierra Leone Marathon

- Meet members of the Street Child team, marathon committee and other charity supporters and runners

Come and hear how we plan to spend (and have been spending!) your money on children who really need it. Come and hear how you can back us this year in different ways to help us reach even more children in Sierra Leone.

If you are hesitating to participate in the marathon, this is an excellent opportunity to meet other runners and exchange tips, or speak to the Street Child team who can answer any questions you may have.

We look forward to meeting all our Street Child supporters there!

WHEN: Thursday January 26th / 18:30 arrival for a 19:00 start

WHERE: The Jewel Bar, Piccadilly
http://www.jewelpiccadilly.co.uk/gallery/main.html

Please RSVP to jannah@street-child.co.uk

This year my boyfriend Martin, and I, will be spending Christmas in Makeni, Sierra Leone. We’ve been out here since ...   more »

19th December 2011: In an effort to significantly increase access to quality education in some of Sierra Leone’s poorest regions, Street Child of Sierra Leone launched an expanded initiative this week to fund 150 teachers from three districts through distance teacher-training.

The event was held at the Northern Polytechnic in Makeni, where many of the teachers will began their training, and was attended by Alieu Conteh of the Sierra Leone Teacher’s Union (SLTU) and Brima Sawa, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Education.

Working in partnership with the Sierra Leonean NGO HANCi, SCoSL will pay for all 150 teachers from Bombali, Port Loko and Tonkolili districts to complete their three year distance teacher-training qualification. In addition, we will supply the teachers with a monthly stipend, all of the required educational materials and pay transport costs for the teachers to attend their colleges.

“Whatever we the teachers learn in college will be transferred to our pupils and the advancement of their education will continue into the future,” said Tamba Frank Mansaray, a teacher from Sambaia Bendugu in Tonkolili district.

“So this opportunity is one of the best that can be offered to Sierra Leonean teachers. We want to develop and we feel that HANCi/SCoSL is the best programme to help the poorest of the poor to be educated and enable us and our pupils to become somebody tomorrow.”

“As a woman it's very important to be a teacher. I want to improve the standards of education and be a positive role model for the children,” added Sarah Turay, a teacher from Bumbuna.

“It is very important that I receive proper training so that I can impart quality education and can teach other girls that, through education, their lives will improve in any community or society. I want them to follow my footsteps and I want to share my knowledge with the children of my community.”

All of the teachers that began SCoSL-funded training have been selected from some of the country’s poorest communities. We are working in these areas to deliver greater access to education through school building and educational development programmes as part of our Every Child in School initiative.

“Every Child in School; I love the name of this programme,” said Mr Sawa of the Ministry of Education. “It is the Ministry’s obligation to ensure that every child born in our nation has access to a basic education so I want to recognise SCoSL’s efforts to compliment the achievement of that goal. Let me assure you that the Ministry of Education will support them with this programme.”

“It is said that no nation can develop above the level of its educational system and that no educational system can rise above the calibre of its teachers,” added Mr Conteh of the SLTU. “So SCoSL’s intervention is both timely and valuable. Programmes like this are very important and the SLTU will do all that we can to support them.”

The Every Child in School initiative began last July and now more than 2,000 children are benefitting from SCoSL’s educational development programmes. The NGO has already created 12 school structures in Tambakha and a brand new educational facility in Bumbuna. We also plan to expand in both of those areas and are already developing plans for educational facilities in Masimra and Bendugu Chiefdoms.

“Education is the corner stone for the development of a nation,” said Kelfa Kargbo, HANCi’s Executive Director. “And through our Every Child School programme, HANCi and SCoSL are committed to ensuring that we help the next generation of Saloneans realise their true potential.

“We have started working in the poorest areas of the country where the need is greatest; but it is our hope that will continue to expand this programme throughout the nation, until eventually every child in our country has access to a quality education and hope for a bright future.”

Mohammed used to live on the streets of Sierra Leone - News First tells his story... please click on http://www.firstnews.co.uk/discover/a-kids-world-mohammed-i912   more »

On a cold December morning in the City... yesterday we officially launched Street Child’s Kiln Sierra Leone Marathon! More contrasting ...   more »

MORE than 500 amateur athletes are set to run in the first official marathon to take place in Makeni, Sierra ...   more »

Double your Donations Week / Big Give
(6th – 9th December 2011)

ENSURE YOUR DONATION IS MATCHED – 3 EASY ...   more »

News!

It’s been quite a year for us in SL & we're delighted to attach the promised 12-page booklet which ...   more »

The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) in Makeni invited some of Street Child’s beneficiaries to their studios for a discussion about their rights and responsibilities on UNICEF’s Child Rights Day.   more »

Dear all,

It is true - on 9th June 2012, Street Child of Sierra Leone are organizing a marathon (+ ...   more »

Dear Frank,

On behalf of myself, Tom and all those involved in Street Child of Sierra Leone I would like ...   more »

One of SCoSL’s beneficiaries, Joseph Julius Conteh, 14, invited Alex (a SCoSL volunteer) and I to visit him at him ...   more »

To read the article online please click on http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-hunt-for-the-lost-children-of-sierra-leone-6255065.html

“Please don’t flash the line!”

It’s the third time the presenter has warned listeners not to miss-call the studio. The ...   more »

For the past ten days, one of SCoSL’s senior social workers has been training a group of nine volunteers to ...   more »

In the midst of the research, the fundraising, the endless checklists that seem to visualise out of nowhere and the ...   more »

It has been a very busy period for SCOSL so we apologize for the gaps in our blog! We are ...   more »

Dear all,

Forgive me if SCoSL e-mails are like buses – nothing for ages then 2 in a row . . . (We’ve already had some fab’ response to this morning’s schools mail - thank you)

But I just didn’t want to let this pass:

Today is the ‘Day of the African Child’. A special day every year – but especially so for us this year as the formal theme is


“ALL TOGETHER FOR URGENT ACTIONS IN FAVOUR OF STREET CHILDREN”

* The Day of the African Child:

The whole of Africa marks the day – it is hard to ignore it! This is what Chloe wrote on her blog from Sierra Leone last year

“. . . The journey there takes much longer than usual! It's June 16th, Day of the African Child! We are stopped maybe 10 times by children who have erected road blocks and are pretending to be traffic wardens, hoping to be given a little money. On the day of the African Child, children are celebrated all across Africa, amongst other things, by allowing them to do the jobs of adults. You will see them dressed as police officers, you will hear them presenting radio programs, dressed as nurses or just being allowed to have fun for the day.

The Day of the African Child is celebrated on June 16 in recognition of the day when, in 1976, thousands of black school children in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than 100 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. (UNICEF)”

(see also http://blog.street-child.co.uk/ for a full note on the 2011 Day of the African Child – with some excellent technical notes on street children)

* What we are doing today:

- In Sierra Leone:
•We are celebrating the day across all our centres – highlighting key messages in colourful marches, meetings with key stake-holders, drama productions and with our staff and children featuring on several radio stations.
•We are show-casing our plans for the first ever comprehensive head-count of street-children which we are leading with the support of the government and other child-focused charities (n.b. ‘all together’).


- In the UK:
•It seemed a bit soon after our event at the Zoo to do anything major . . .
•So instead I am popping this mail out for 2 reasons:


1.To celebrate our donors, supporters, team in Sierra Leone and especially the children who are in and have been through our projects and worked to change their lives. Together a vast amount has been achieved. There are almost 1000 children living in communities today who without us would be on the streets – and almost 2500 in school who almost certainly would not have been with out us

Let us just pause for a moment and acknowledge that – what has been achieved ‘all together’ - thank you everyone.


2.And of course, the day is fundamentally ‘prospective’. It is a call to action! Masses has been achieved over the past two and a half years. For me it is really just ‘proof of concept’ however. What we have achieved in Makeni & Lunsar, an 80-90% reduction in street children, we now must look to achieve across the country. I can affirm my commitment to that today - but really that is neither here nor there; if we are to achieve this in Sierra Leone, it is the ‘all together’ bit that is going to carry the way!

And I would just be delighted if the message of today (of which I am sure you had no idea before this mail arrived!), inched anyone at all towards new or renewed ‘urgent action’! In short, if you have been thinking of doing something more for street children today might be a very poetic day (for that direct debit you have never got round to setting up/increasing; the volunteering offer; the fund-raising event you’ve been half-thinking about; trying to get your school or employer interested; coming to Sierra Leone even . . . – details on how to action any of these below . . .)

(If I couldn’t ask on the international day of ‘urgent action’ for street children then when could I?!)


As ever, thank you so much,


Tom
tom@street-child.co.uk
www.street-child.co.uk


* For direct debits & donations - http://www.street-child.co.uk/donate.php
* For visiting Sierra Leone - http://www.street-child.co.uk/involved.php
* For UK volunteering - e-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk
* For fund-raising - e-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk or http://blog.street-child.co.uk/blog/_archives/2011/5/24/4823733.html
* For SCoSL in UK schools - e-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk or http://blog.street-child.co.uk/blog/_archives/2011/5/17/4818770.html
* For something different . . . - http://www.street-child.co.uk/marathon-2012/

Got some fundraising ideas? use our fundraising pack below to get started!

We will support you every step of the way.

Any questions just email Vicki@street-child.co.uk

This is a fantastic way to enage with our work, meet the childen and get stuck in, and you will have the time of your life!

The easiest way for us to look at how you can volunteer is by attending our Volunteers Night on the 1st June at Jewry Winebar, EC3N 2EX for a talk on our volunteer programme and a chance to ask lots of questions. It will start at 6:30pm and run until 9pm, with a short presentation around 7:30pm. Come along to hear more about how you can get involved and meet other volunteers!

Attached is a short introduction to the volunteer programme for you to read in the meantime :)

Vicki@street-child.co.uk

One of the things we are passionate about is helping young people in the UK meaningfully understand the life in the developing world and what can be done to help - and how. Schools also offer long term partnerships and fundraising which is really important to us.

How you can help:

What we need is for people to get in touch with schools on our behalf and to ask if we can come in and do an assembly and possibly some fundraising. It is much better coming from people who know the school in some way and initiate contact for us. We will do all the work from there.

We already have a few key relationships established but we would like to branch out to many more. Can you help? What about your old school? Do your children go to a school? Do you know any teachers? Primary or secondary.


What we offer schools:

Speakers for assemblies or special events – Tom Dannatt (charity founder), Vicki Bowden (UK charity manager) or other members.

Specially designed teaching units and case studies for Geography, Citizenship, Ethics and RE.

Guaranteed feedback on how any funds raised were spent in Sierra Leone.

Fundraising with a guarantee that 90+% of funds raised are spent in Sierra Leone.

School twining opportunities – help us build a school in Sierra Leone (ask Vicki@street-child.co.uk for more details).

Fundraising pack, ideas and support service.

Opportunities to visit SCoSL in Sierra Leone (A-level and gap year only).

Opportunities to apply for volunteer experience in SCoSL UK office (A-level and gap year only).

Participation in school career service events with topics such as ‘working in charity’ or ‘working in overseas development / aid’.

"An inspirational assembly, which engaged the whole school (ages 4 to 11) and got them wanting to help Street Child as soon as they could!" Teacher at Spooner Row primary school

“The presentation to our Sixth Form created such a talking point that the students were all fired up and inspired that they are currently raising money for Street Children of Sierra Leone. The delivery and content was so engaging that several students are now thinking of taking a Gap Year to volunteer with the charity in Africa.” Teacher at Coombe Girls’ secondary school

Email Vicki@street-child.co.uk or visit our website
www.street-child.co.uk for more information

Dear all,

Tom is preparing a proper update on everything Sierra Leone but I know It’s a hugely exciting time I know the 2 brand new projects in Kono & Magburaka are finally poised for opening next month; the 7 new primary schools we added to project ‘Every Child in School’ in January are all now open & running; & we are close to 1 or 2 v.exciting patron announcements for the Golden Jubilee Appeal

Which is why I’m writing - The big London Zoo drinks & band evening Golden Jubilee ‘launch’ is only a month away now: 14th May!

The traditional thing for a Street Child event is everyone to sign-up at the last minute, which whilst fine has always been a little stressful! So our radical idea time round is to entice you to buy early! So to encourage you to buy your tickets now (£30; or £15 non-alc or ‘early evening only’ tickets)

• 2 free raffle tickets For everyone who buys a ticket in the next 48 hours (or has already)!
• 1 free raffle ticket For everyone who buys a ticket before Sierra Leone’s Independence day (27th April, as if you needed telling!)

www.virginmoneygiving.com/StreetChildofSierraLeone


Thank you

Tom

Gemma Tetlow: Running the Marathon des Sables (150 miles across the Sahara) in April 2011

From 3rd–9th April I will be taking part in the Marathon des Sables, raising money for Street Child. The MdS is a 150-mile race across the Sahara desert in Morocco. It is run in six stages – ranging in length from about 13 miles to about 50 miles – which are completed over seven days.

It dubs itself “the toughest footrace on Earth” – I am not sure if this is entirely true, but I think it probably has a good claim to being one of the toughest. But I am looking forward to the challenge!

MdS is almost entirely self-supported: I will have to carry all my own equipment and food for the entire event and the only items supplied by the organisers along the way are water and tents. I am hoping to take a bag weighing no more than about 7kg. However, I am currently struggling to cut down my packing list sufficiently. I have already reduced myself to one set of clothes, and 2 pairs of knickers and socks, but am still some way over my 7kg limit. If anyone has any cunning suggestions for cutting further weight, do get in touch!

With only a month left to go, most of my training is now behind me – I entered the event almost 3 years ago, so I have been building up to this for a long time! Having never previously run more than the obligatory school cross-country course (much of which I walked), five years ago I started running. Since then I have run five marathons, numerous shorter distance races as well as some longer distance ultra marathons. In preparation for MdS I have done a number of other ultra distance events (single- or multi-day events averaging at least 30 miles per day). my next (and possibly final) organised race before the MdS is this weekend when I will be taking part in the Grantham Ultrarace, which is 29.3 miles on each of Saturday and Sunday.

If you would like to make a donation, then my donation page is: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GemmaMdS2011. Also, during the event I will be posting daily updates on my progress on that site too, so do take a look if you are interested to see how I am getting on!

Wish me luck!

Gemma Tetlow

Blog by Tom Searle posted by Vicki:

I've decided to join the likes of the famous Ben Hodgson and run a half marathon on behalf of Street Child!

I broke my leg in late October playing the less beautiful game of rugby, and so in order to build my leg back up from its current toothpick size, i'm going to take part in the Cambridge Boundary Run. I've so far confirmed an article in two local papers as well as the university Varsity magazine and, although i'll probably be unable to raise the kind of wonga Ben managed to squeeze from his rich lawyer mates, my friend and family spamming will hopefully gain me an overall donation not to be sniffed at.

If anyone has the heart to help me out on this one, then my donation page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomSearle

Theres more info about the run and my inspiration on the page.

The race is on Sunday 27th Feb, so i reckon once my ankle stops hurting in a couple of weeks, i'll be able to hop off the training bike and start regularly pummelling the local footpaths.

Wish me luck!

Tom Searle

As we are incredibly grateful to all our supporters, it is unusual for us to use space like this just to say 'thank you' to one in particular - but we unanimously agreed that on this occasion we should.

Because simply the fund-raising event Frank Timis, Exec Chair of African Minerals, hosted on behalf of Street Child last Saturday at the Park Lane Hilton was pretty unusual! (for us, or for anyone for that matter)

It was an extraordinary evening. The funds are still coming in. But it is safe to say it gives us the platform to take our work way onto the next level in 2011.

If, with all our efforts, we can pull off another big December, the goal we set a long way back of being able to spend £500k in SL next year is in sight - and quite possbily then some - without touching our co-mission of building strong foundations. Which is a pretty exciting prospect, exactly 2 years in

(fyi SCoSL was officially '2' yesterday - 17/11!).

Frank and associates funded the event - and then were incredibly, shall we say, 'active' on the night! Frank himself putting up the £115 for the character in McNab's next book, as reported by Mandrake in the Telegraph (!).

It is also a fantastic boost and honour for Street Child to receive such a huge endorsement from the head of by far and away the major commercial player in Sierra Leone - and for that alone we are hugely grateful. I can only imagine there are any number of other charities making pitches for the same.

Frank & team, we are hugely grateful. Thank you! Your support is an enormous source of motivation & pride to us all.

I've posted this for a few reasons - not least that this was another 'transformative' night for Street Child & you might find it interesting

But also, we have

- The endorsement from William Hague

- Quite a lengthy section from me where I set out our foundations and especially vision for 2011 & 2012 - as clearly as I have done anywhere else

- A whole-hearted endorsement from Frank Timis, the Founder & Exec Chair of African Minerals, the major commercial operator in Sierra Leone.

- And endorsements from several other commercial players in Sierra Leone

And you can see the auction prizes, including the McNab one which went for £115k!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/8117838/Dannii-Minogue-dreams-of-dressing-Jennifer-Aniston.html

Progress for our national street-child survey plan with the Ministry, a draft plan is in place (needs work though . . .).

Progress on a couple v.exciting ‘income-generating’ opportunities in Makeni which hopefully will start to generate funds to support out girls work in Makeni

The 100 children we registered as ‘extra’ cases last month are doing well, but not without challenge. The next month is important. The drive is to get them settled back in family (and life-style) before the festive season. Which if we can manage it, will get our 2-year total to over 600.

Progress in identifying new project sites for 2011. Concrete steps have been taken towards action in the diamond area of Kono and, on a different tack (with v.exciting back-story about which I can hopefully say more soon), something smaller at Lakka – and I promise it is only co-incidence that Lakka has one of the most beautiful beaches you will ever see!

From the programme for Saturday’s event –

“I would like to wish Street Child of Sierra Leone every success
in its endeavours and hope that much money is raised tonight to
support its invaluable work in the years ahead.
Given the devastating impact of the civil war, the challenges
facing the country are immense but through organisations such
as Street Child of Sierra Leone many more young people and
their families now have the chance of a brighter future.

You can view the beautiful designs - by children, for children; 100% profits to us – at (and all purchase details are there too. Alternatively mail vicki@street-child.co.uk who can mail you all details.

The Mixed Bag’s CD is on sale at www.street-child.co.uk. If you missed the 3-page Mail on Sunday article on Anna, MB’s founder last Sunday, see the link below. No-one’s joking any more – it is a smashing CD and went down brilliantly at their launch do on Sunday. Every penny of profit (c.90% cover price) comes to us. £10 for one, of £40 for 5. Buy 5, sort your Christmas shopping problem for Aunite Jo & Uncle Bob – and we will make enough £ in the process to send another child to school in 2011 . . . the ultimate win-win-win?!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-1323936/My-outrage-girls-ordeal-turning-point.html

Many of you saw the Mandrake story in the Telegraph on Monday. If not check it out on the link below – it was quite a moment! If you want to know more, drop me a line . . . There was also a little piece in the Sunday Express about this but I can’t see it online – we’ll pdf it and put it on the blog (and apparently OK are publishing some pictures soon too . . .)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/8117838/Dannii-Minogue-dreams-of-dressing-Jennifer-Aniston.html (er, the story after Dannii …)

ENSURE YOUR DONATION IS MATCHED – 3 EASY STEPS

TO MAXIMISE YOUR CHANCES OF HAVING YOUR DONATION SUCCESSFULLY MATCHED *

1. Donate as soon after 10am (not before – it is impossible) as possible on the day you have decided to give.

2. Give as early in the week as possible (ideally Monday 6th or Tuesday 7th December)

3. Before you give – be certain that there are ‘matched’ funds available that day (this will be very clear on the site)
- If you are at all unsure, please contact the office on 020 7614 7692
- If there are no match funds left that day, come back the following day as shortly after 10am as possible . . .


THE BASICS – HOW TO DONATE

1. Visit www.thebiggive.org.uk and search for ‘Street Child of Sierra Leone’.

2. Donate the amount you have decided to through the online donation system.

3. Any problems – give us a call on 020 7614 7692 or mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk


OTHER KEY POINTS

1. There is a cap of £5,000.00 per individual donor (though couples / family members may each make separate donations . . .)

2. There is no minimum donation

3. The ‘matching pot’ (capped at our target of £100k) is 50% Reed Foundation & 50% an anonymous SCoSL donor

4. We are incredibly fortunate to have been invited on to this scheme and must make the most of it! Our thanks go out especially to Big Give, Reed and our donor!


* There are some rules and reg.s to this - because the scheme has a large but ultimately capped amount available for ‘matching’! So as per above, we just need to be a little savvy about when we make our donations – the bottom line is that if you donate shortly after 10am and early in the week, past experience suggests that it is 99% certain your gift will be matched!

This is the report (attached) I mailed out 10 days ago after my trip to SL earlier this month

Please feel free to get in touch anytime if you would like to discuss any of the content.

We are once again fortunate enough to be beneficiaries of the 'Big Give' scheme operated by the Reed Foundation

Basically, for every pound we are given in Big Give week (w/c Mon 6th December) via the Big Give web-site * . . .

. . . the scheme matches it with another pound (+ your normal gift aid)

eg:

you give £1

BG match £1

Gift Aid 28% £0.28p


TOTAL £2.28 value to Street Child!


Please start thinking about whether you can plan a donation in this week. Can you persuade friends or family to give?

The scheme will match up to £100k of donations (ie possible total value of £200+ to us). Our goal is to hit the target - we got well over half way last year and we were so much smaller then . . .



(* it is slighly more complicated than this but hardly - please e-mail vicki@street-child.co.uk if you have any questions . . . )

Kelfa Kargbo, the incoming Executive Director of our outstanding partner organisation in Sierra Leone will be in London for the first ten days of December and will address all these ‘Big Give’ week events which will hopefully give people a superb opportunity to get ‘close’ to our field work in-country. He is also very available for visits to any schools, churches, other discussion groups you may be involved in – please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

A presentation and Q&A informal event for anyone even slightly interested in visiting Sierra Leone with us in 2011. Many of the 40+ who have visited in the past 18 months will be there too for unspun take! E-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk for more info.

Straight after the carols, in a nearby bar. A separate event which you can come to on its own or even better come on to from the carols, to properly explain this wonderful, slightly crazy new rural schools venture. We have some brilliant footage and photos to share which will help you understand why everyone who has come into contact with this project has fallen in love with it!

E-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk for more info on all these events.

Final details in confirmation but this will be a wonderful piece

E-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk for more info

£55 p/head or £500 for a table of ten . . .
Guest speaker v.nearly confirmed! It will be hard to beat the Tower of London – but this will be a superb evening . . .

E-mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk for more info

There is another v.positive piece in today’s Metro (if you don’t find scraggy copy on the journey home or aren’t in London see http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/2010/10/25/19.html - and yes, the photo is of Chloe!)



After the first article they indicated that they were keen to do a follow-up on developments falling out of the most recent trip. I spoke to them about a week ago. Interesting that the piece they have really engaged with is the initial success of the 5 pilot schools on our ‘rural street child’ / ‘Every Child in School’ (ECiS) programme in remote Tambakha chiefdom – and the goal to raise the funds to roll it out across the rest of Tambakha: another c. 50 schools . . .



For more on this new venture please block out evening of Monday 6th Dec in the diary (see below). And/or read visit the top 2 posts on http://blog.street-child.co.uk/blog -

“Tambakha / rural / project ‘Every Child in School’ (ECiS) - the basics”
“Launching ECiS / Tambakha - speeches, canoes, bikes, schools . . .”

We have produced a fabulous range of Christmas cards under our awesome www.childrensart4life.com project run by Anna Lloyd. All profits (naturally) fall to us – but above all they are just beautiful cards, designed by children (with expert help) – for children.



To pre-order, please contact Anna or Vicki@street-child.co.uk and for all details etc.

Our new, beautiful rural side-line! We feel it is important to not just be in the towns – where almost all the aid agencies are. And also because so many children begin their journey to the street by leaving a village where there is no hope – or specifically a school.

So this project is helping 5 communities in the most remote place imaginable establish functioning primary schools. We help with the buildings. We provide the materials. We have enrolled the teachers on a 3-year part-time teacher training course and are paying them a stipend. And 1000+ children are coming! Many walking 5+ miles each way.

The wider goal of this project? Millennium Development Goal 2: by 2015, ‘Every Child in (primary) School’. So now we are in 5 villages in Tambakha (cost £20k / £3-6k per school) - to meet MDG 2, maybe we need to be in 50 . . .


TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THISV.EXCITING NEW SCHEME, PLEASE COME TO OUR 'PROJECT ECiS' LAUNCH EVENT DIRECTLY AFTER THE CAROL SERVICE IN THE CITY, MONDAY 5TH DECEMBER (C.8.15) - E-MAIL vicki@street-child.co.uk FOR DETAILS

Tambakha / Every Child in School (ECiS) is a different type of project as I explained in my last newsletter (relevant extract copied at the foot of this blog).

This posting is a lighty edited (largely so it makes sense to you - * marks the places where I have edited / added) copy of an e-mail I sent a guy called Bart who has been instrumental in the lauch of ECiS. It describes the launch ceremony of the project 2 w/e's ago and my impressions as I visited the different sites afterwards for the first time. And on the way hopefully gives a little 'feel' of what the area and this idea is about . . .



Dear Bart . . .


. . . . So we stayed Friday night in Kamakwie (* small/medium town closest to Tambakha)

Kelfa (*new exec director of HANCi, our local partner), JMK (*HANCi regional boss), Tom, a few others and a TV crew from SL’s equivalent of the BBC, ‘SLBC’ (tickled by the idea of anyone spending 100+ m leones / 3c.£20k in Tambakha) - and then another car-load (4 SCoSL volunteers) came up early Saturday a.m.

So imagine like a flotilla of canoes (no chance of going over on 4x4 - water so high and fast). Last school supplies (mainly huge boxes of chalk) on the rides too

And then relays to Samaya (*'capital' of Tambakha!) on bikes

‘Til we are all there - at the JS (* Junior secondary) school. And gradually the meet fills up ‘il there are a couple of hundred folk. All sitting on ECiS benches proudly emblazoned ‘HANCi-SL support'. And we get all the supplies out for the cameras and pop to see. Someone writes 'Every Child in School - Tambakha' on one of the new ECiS boards. And a good photo was taken for you.

And then the meet began. Unbelievably tedious introductions - but it got better with the speeches. All in we went at it for 2+ hours. And it was hot! I must say the director of SCoSL got a good reception! I described how we knew and were moved by Tambakha’s poverty and isolation - but what moved us to action was its commitment: these baby 'schools' the community had built with their own hands. That we weren't in the business of hand-outs but supporting local commitment. And we needed more to keep this going and growing. I bluntly told parents that now there were schools here it was abuse and disaster to keep children in the fields - but if they let the children come to school, that is what would see them right in old age: the child with a skilled job in Makeni or Kamakwie or who learned sophisticated farming techniques!

I needn't have feared. The community speeches were tedious in volume but awesome in content! The chief proclaimed a bye-law making it a local offence not to send children to school. Another guy said that if teachers failed to turn up for school they would be stripped of their places on the teacher training programme. And another read out (school by school) what each community had been given - and promised shall we say 'severe' sanctions for anyone who appropriated anything. The senior lady in Samaya promised she would make sure not just boys but all girls went too (the school in Bendugu actually currently has more girls than boys on the registered - surely some kind of record?!). It went on.

Kelfa spoke well too and confused everyone by saying that this was all possible because of some guy from Holland, which was a place no-one had ever heard of. He made one of the better stabs at pronouncing your name though!

So it went on and finally, thankfully finished.

They are mad for it though.

The SLBC guys recorded some interviews which apparently are airing tonight!

And then we went to peep at Bendugu and Komoya (*2 villages with schools we are supporting). Such an adventure! Strictly bikes - no way a 4x4 could go at this time of year.

And just before Bendugu (* village where we have built a new school from scratch because the old one burned down) there is a veritable lake - you ride through it on the bike, water almost covering the whole tyre! Apparently some of the smaller children from surrounding villages only come on days when ma or pa is around to carry them - until water falls as Oct goes on. The temporary structure is great - but def a temp or over-flow, so hot under the tarpaulin! I accepted an unfortunate chicken on everyone's behalf. The girls took photos - we agreed the caption would be 'in development, there are winners and losers . . .' JMK has since eaten the chicken.

And Komoya is good too.


Best thing though was the ride where we passed trains of kids carrying all the school supplies through the bush on their heads (blackboards, exercise books, chalk boxes . . .). It is 7km from Samaya to Komoya!

At Komoya - the wall we fixed was essential (* after budgets had been prepared we received an emergency request for extra help as one of the main walls in this building was collapsing in the rains) - and to be honest another demands it too. It is borderline dangerous. The community are building a thatch extension because of the increased school roll - which is awesome.

Way back to Samaya personally notable for being deposited (er, 'gently') in a puddle when bike skidded in a bog. Hilton, the senior social worker from Kamakwie I was riding with was crest-fallen and swore blind it was his first ever 'fall'. That sort of mud takes a lot more than a bucket or dribble shower to get off too!

So there we have it.

The canoe ride back was a mere foot-note by this stage.


So it is great stuff. There are a few small issues here and there but nothing worth writing about really now. The fee structure is still up for debate - though the long term path is clear. And some of the teachers not picked up for teacher training are a little down - but they have been encouraged to keep going this year and see what next brings . . . .


_________________


Tambakha / rural / project ‘Every Child in School’ (ECiS) - intro:


Our new, beautiful rural side-line! We feel it is important to not just be in the towns – where almost all the aid agencies are. And also because so many children begin their journey to the street by leaving a village where there is no hope – or specifically a school.

So this project is helping 5 communities in the most remote place imaginable establish functioning primary schools. We help with the buildings. We provide the materials. We have enrolled the teachers on a 3-year part-time teacher training course and are paying them a stipend. And 1000+ children are coming! Many walking 5+ miles each way.

The wider goal of this project? Millennium Development Goal 2: by 2015, ‘Every Child in (primary) School’. So now we are in 5 villages in Tambakha (cost £20k / £3-6k per school) - to meet MDG 2, maybe we need to be in 50 . . .

It is not exactly the New York Times but it is picked up by hundreds of thousands of people each day -

There is a nice article about Street Child in today's Metro if you have a chance to pick one up.
(It can be viewed - http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/2010/09/28/12.html

3 other things while I'm writing:

- Save the date - Fri 3rd December: SCoSL 'annual' Christmas dinner event, details to follow.

- Save the date - Mon 6th December: inaugural SCoSL carol concert, featuring a Mixed Bag as choir www.amixedbag.co.uk
- A note to follow shortly on a series of smaller more 'niche' events for October.

I am in SL right now. It is an exciting time - we are planning next years work. More on that shortly (it is also incredibly hot, you might think that is unsurprising, but it is SO hot!).

Thank you,


Tom

(PS major thanks to everyone who has been in touch with potential auction items for our big-big piece in early Nov at Park Lane - the list is really coming on, but we aren't there yet by any stretch, so if you have half a thought of anything, please don't hesitate to be in touch. Also we have been given a small allocation for the event (it is essentially a large private party), if you might be interested or know someone for whom this might be 'their kind of thing' / best way to intro them to SCoSL then again, please, please be in touch)

It is a long (& quite exciting!) story, more of which another time, but the short of it is this, we are the beneficiary of a huge private party at the Park Lane Hilton with some enormously wealthy & important guests in early November. Plans are for both a ‘headline’ and a ‘silent’ auction. We aren’t organizing this (blissfully) – but for obvious reasons are helping as much as we can, especially with the sourcing of lots.



Can you help? It might sound ridiculous, and maybe I’m ridiculous for asking, in which case sorry, but if you have a little star contact or ‘in’ somewhere, which you might ever be inclined to play as a card for us, this could just be the moment - this event is a rare and wonderful opportunity! At the top end we’re talking 7-star holidays, training with sports stars, dinner with a celebrity type stuff . . . through to maybe more manageable things like holiday homes, hard-to-get work experience, portraits, tickets to sports event, dinner at a nice restaurant, signed books, football shirts . . . Please get in touch if you have an idea at all (or please talk to me on Friday). Thank you.



(There is also masses else on the UK side between now & Christmas, but for another time (quite soon): teacher event, carol concert, big give again. I just wanted to focus minds specifically on the auction possibility right now . . .)

If you are around London and haven’t got another or a better (as if!) plan, please come down & join us. All the details are on the old mail copied below (&/or the blog). Anytime from 6:30; brief injection of content c.8ish.



The film is a very fresh, unspun look at the new site in Lunsar, and as hopelessly biased as I am, I think it is super!



Feel free to just turn up, but if poss’ please mail Vicki@street-child.co.uk to let her know – and with an indication of your party size etc

Remember around Easter this year we identified 250 boys and girls sleeping on the streets of Makeni, and another 100 in Lunsar?



By last week we had found proper homes for 340 of them . . . *



And all these 340 children re-commenced education last week. 105 in primary school (86 boys, 19 girls); 189 in secondary school (123 boys /66 girls); 46 in technical-vocational (15 boys, 31 girls). Not one of them was in school last year – most have not been for 2 or 3+ years, especially in Lunsar. The staff (in the rains!) have had to negotiate entry into new schools for every single one of these children (and not every school wants an ex-street child, thank you very much).



You are forgiven for thinking this reads like a Baath-party election result & perhaps stretches credibility – but it is true. Yes, there is a lot of complexity & layers behind these figures and labels – and especially in c.50-100+ of these cases, in fact the majority, a lot of work to be done just to maintain this progress. But you are reading about astonishing change of 100s of lives here, be certain of that.



How did we manage so many reunifications, so fast? Tough love. May-June time the children were excited to be back in touch with family, but commitments to going back to live were slow. But there is one thing these children want almost more than anything else – to go to school. We made it totally clear to the children that we would put them back into school – but only when they were off the street, for good. We aren’t in the business of making street-life a sustainable option in any way shape or form. And as term approached (same calendar as here – so think about the time you started seeing ‘back to school’ signs in Tesco), they realised we were serious **



Also in Sierra Leone -



1. A very high, and very exciting proportion (precise figure not yet available) of our 2009 in-take who have now left the programme have continued in school this year – funded not by us any more, but by their parents. This is sustainability in action! ***


2. 100 former street children began school in Freetown this academic year – funded by SCoSL. ****


3. 5 village schools opened with books, benches/chairs & paid teachers for the first time in rural, remote and impoverished beyond imagination, Tambkha (to flesh out ‘remote’ – last time I went there, a critical stretch of the journey was by dug-our canoe, with a motorbike inside). These 5 schools serve c.1 village and are attended y over 600 children. *****




All in all, way North of 1000 children are getting an education, or quality of education, they would not have, if we hadn’t done this. Let’s not be shy, this is good.

_______________


* The majority are back with immediate family; or in a smaller number of cases, extended family; & a v.small minority in foster or living together but reconciled with family (older children only). And we are close to solutions with most the remaining 10 (9 boys and a girl) – the issue with the majority of these children is that their relatives live miles away



** You will appreciate that this is the abridged version – but it contains the core narrative. I am delighted to talk the details with anyone.



*** These are the children we reunited in 2009 and/or funded in school for 2009/10 and gave business grants & training to the parents of this year as our exit-strategy.



**** I don’t think I have ever written about this before. Separate to our main work in Makeni & Lunsar, we support with a small monthly stipend the work of 2 courageous individuals in Freetown who operate on less than a shoe-string, working in an ongoing way with children on the street in Central Freetown. At their request we funded the education of 25 children in 2009/10 and are continuing our support to these children (for one more year only) – and 75 new cases, this year as well.



***** These schools ‘existed’ before, but in name only. Some without even a book, roof or black-board. We’re putting just these very basics in place – and we are also enrolling the village teachers on distance learning teacher training too. What we are trying to do, is help turn them into places where basic education might actually happen, as well as just ‘school going’. Because children who don’t get the basics in their villages, often end up in the towns. Because children shouldn’t grow up without an education - period. And in any case, being prepared to flex for ‘maximum impact’ was enshrined as a core SCoSL value at the start. So this is a bit different to our core urban work - a new project stream, which we will be launching separately before Christmas. We are starting with these 5 schools. But if this works, the potential for scaling and impact is phenomenal. Maybe we’ll call it ‘rural street child’ or something equally incongruous, Bart’s open to ideas (who is Bart?)

A friend is doing a presentation on Street Child to his work (ahead of a superb fund-raising initiative they are undertaking for us). I sent him a bunch of info - he came back with this reply

"Thanks Tom for all the info.

I have one broad question. Why a street child in Sierra Leone vs. another country, e.g. Pakistan or even at home in the UK? What made you pick this? Just in case I get asked."


Just in case you ever wondered the same - this was what I wrtoe back


Hey

It is a good question!

I answer it on the web-site in some depth here -

http://www.street-child.co.uk/whysierraleone/index.php

The short, big answer is that Sierra Leone is one of the very poorest countries in the world (UN Human Development Index had it ranked bottom in Dec 2008 & third bottom in 2009). I set this up in 2008 in Sierra Leone as opposed to anywhere else because in short I thought - where else needs help than the world's poorest country?

An additional, more nuanced important point is the third strand under that link - 'development/security': the specific recent history of neglected youth/children in armed violence in Sierra Leone . . .

As against a street child in the UK, I would say (i) the problem is much, much, much smaller - with correspondingly smaller 'national' implications; (ii) much more expensive on a per head basis to do anything about (whereas we with about £300k so far we have reunited c.500 children with families); (iii) being a street child in a rich country is perhaps not as extreme as an experience as in one of the world's poorest countries . . . [these are broad-brush responses only . . .]

As against Pakistan, that is harder. Apart from to say Pakistan whilst very poor, is still quite significantly better off than SL. But maybe we should start a Street Child of Pakistan one day?!

In short there are lots and lots of acute problems in the world - I decided to find one especially needy place (Sierra Leone) and one issue that seemed really important & that I could see a clear and really effective way of helping which was Street Children - and in particular, the method I saw of focusing entirely on reunification with a family, followed by support to that family which you then withdraw from as their capacity increases so is sustainable and allows you to move on to more and more cases, so create quite a wide impact in terms of number, as against the traditional approach of orphanages etc where you end up with a small, static case-load . . . (the other key, key factor is/was absolute trust in and admiration for the people we work with)

I hope that helps!

Feel free to come back to me

Thanks again,


Tom

Who is Vicki?!

Vicki (Bowden) is our new Street Child worker! (Until last week) Vicki was a teacher for the past 6 years – and although she is absolutely going to be involved across the board, I know one of the areas she is very keen to take forwards immediately is ‘SCoSL in schools’ (which has already been a great area for us). So although I really hope you will get to know Vicki anyhow over the coming busy months, if you have ideas or interest in helping her develop this stream, she would love to hear from you.

(I still remain more than involved – but a little less so for the next 12 months as I study for a Masters in Development at the UEA . . .).

‘Local people, local solutions’ Has been a Street Child tag-line and core principle since the start. But I came away from my trip in June feeling that this was something we hadn’t done justice to yet in our meetings here – like maybe it was a line trotted out a little too glibly. Because if I took one thing away from that visit – it was how our success to date is fundamentally, the success of the talented local people we have found, who just care passionately about children - and go way beyond the call of duty. People in our teams – but also some outstanding figures in the communities we work in.

In short, when Street Child is working, we aren’t doing anything that special – we are just finding the right people - and providing the resources and structure, that empower these people to do ‘their thing’ (but without which they could do almost ‘no-thing’ – that talent and passion would be unrealized).

Our results are remarkable – understanding ‘local heroes’ is part of the key to understanding how we achieve so much with seemingly so little. And I want to try and introduce just a few of the personalities – so you get an idea. Because in a very real sense, what Street Child is, is a simple ‘partnership’ between us (you) here and these people . . .

Dear all,





10 days or so I mailed out the date for our next London piece – Friday 17th Sept.





Well, we’ve now fixed a venue – we’re going to take over the Corney & Barrow bar at the top of Jewry street in the City (short walk from Monument or Tower Hill).





Its just a good night in a pub basically – so absolutely free to come & then drinks at the bar.





Doors open from 18:30 or so onwards. And then at some stage in the evening (maybe around 8), we will gather everyone for just 20 or 30 minutes &



1. Show some hugely uplifting new footage from the new projects in Lunsar (& Makeni)

2. Which I will then briefly speak to – with a theme of ‘local heroes’ *

3. And then head-line the plans/ideas/opportunities in the pipeline between now and Christmas to take this all forwards again.

Exciting, big but achievable plans like - makethiswhatyoudo.com/ amixedbag.co.uk/ & thebiggive.org.uk/challenge-funding/

- & ones which we really need help, in all its different shapes & sizes, to make real . . .





But that short burst aside, it’s a bunch of people in a pub – people with something in common – I guess doing what people do in pubs on Friday nights . . .





So please come. Come with your friends.



Just ideally, let us know that you are coming by mailing vicki@street-child.co.uk **



Really looking forward to seeing you there,





Best,



Tom



020 7614 7690

tom@street-child.co.uk

www.street-child.co.uk

Last night I got absolutely drenched on the way back from work. It was the first time for a while ...   more »

We've got better at using the blog more regularly for sure

But it has still been too intermittent for people ...   more »

for our next major event . . .

details to come very shortly (Central London venue)   more »

Check out http://volunteerblog.street-child.co.uk/ for uncensored (by and large!) posts from volunteers in the field

Interesting snap-shots of life on the projects

Maybe especially interesting if you are even half-interested in the idea of visiting or volunteering yourself (or somewhere to direct people to if you think they may be)

Desipte the heavy seasonal rains the team have made a remarkable push towards re-unifications for these chidlren over the past ...   more »

Once in a while I get asked if there a a good book I can recommend or 'how can I find out a bit more' about these issues.

So I've pulled together this list of pieces that I've found engaging - and especially those that others have told me they have found good too

There are a few tougher reads on here - but for someone just learning about SL for the first time, relax - my recommended starting points are Blood Diamond (the film with Leonardo Di Caprio . . .) & the extraordinary book by Ishmael Beah of his career as a child soldier, 'A long way gone' (They used to sell it in Starbucks . . .)

Purchasing hint - if you want to buy 2 or 3 of these, I know people have sometimes been able to get them as discounted 'sets' on Amazon

As ever, feel free to be in touch,

Tom