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<p><span id="profile_status"><span id="status_text">“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result” - Mahatma Gandhi</span></span></p>
<p>Burkina Faso is an African nation, at peace, but in need of our help. My life has been changed by getting to know the people, and visiting this wonderful country. But I want to do more.</p>
<p>Education is a great way to help people out of poverty - and I know personally that any money raised will go directly to the school that we are building.....</p>
<p>Can you help me?</p>
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="437140621-01022011">A year ago my husband (Andy) and I bought a business. Quite a big business. And I felt it was time to become more charitable. We do a lot of local charity things....but I wanted to be involved with a global charity. And, as such things always happen, an old friend contacted me through Facebook to tell me of a charity he had set up. Coincidence? Mmmm..</span></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="437140621-01022011">Anyway, Giving Africa is currently building schools for Africa, specifically Burkina Faso (don't worry, I hadn't heard of it, and most people thought I was off to the Greek Islands when I said I was off there last November!). It's in it's first year (the charity, not Burkina Faso which took it's independence from France in 1960), and we are on our way to expanding on an existing secondary school in the North of Burkina. We probably need about £100k in total to change the lives of 1000 secondary school children.</span></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="437140621-01022011">I signed up to Giving Africa, and I went out to Burkina in November to see it for myself. I have travelled the world - I have seen slums in Bangkok, Delhi, Kathmandu, South Korea, Mexico....and nothing compared me for Burkina. But, there is a hope there - and a drive, no, a passion, for education! They understand that to lift themselves from poverty they need education (and they sacrifice everything to send their children to school!).</span></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="437140621-01022011">Giving Africa is in the fortunate position to have linked up with Article 25, a charity set up by Norman Foster (that bloke who built that 'pickle' in London!), to ensure sustainable building projects are built in countries such as Burkina Faso. In November we went out with the CEO of Article 25 and a distinguished architect who has given his time to this project, to develop a sustainability report on this first project for Giving Africa (happy to send it to you, it's 107 pages long, with pictures). This is a real project where 95% of the money raised will go directly to the school. <br /></span></span></div>
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