WE NEED JUST 17 PEOPLE TO DONATE £6.50 & WE'VE REACHED OUR TARGET.....PLEASE HELP! :)

I know a lot of people can't make the comedy fundraiser evening I've arranged, which has prompted me to set up a Just Giving page, so you can still show your support.....  if you can't make it on Sunday please spare whatever you can to make a donation to this worthwhile charity.

The country of Lesotho is very small and is often overlooked as a country in need.

In October 2011, I am going on a short voluntary trip to Lesotho in Southern Africa and although I'm funding the entire trip myself, I would like to raise funds to make a donation to the charity who has organised my trip; and so I have arranged a fundraising comedy evening with the amazingly funny Andy Kind on Sunday 17th July 2011 (Andy has established himself as one of the leading clean comedians in the UK - check out his website for further info www.andykind.co.uk).

To give you some inspiration to dig in your pockets please read on....

The mountain kingdom of Lesotho has a population of 1.8m people, 60% of whom are under 18. It is a country beset by poverty and appallingly high rates of AIDS infections (the 3rd highest prevalence in the World). The children are the country’s future but they are on the front line.

Here is an overview of some of the projects the Durham-Lesotho LINK is involved with:

1. Helping Children Who Care
Thousands of Lesotho children are being orphaned as a result of the AIDS pandemic. The number of child headed households is increasing rapidly where children as young as 9 yrs old are left to look after siblings, with very little support or resources. The LINK provides respite breaks for some of these young carers from rural areas, giving them the chance to be children again for a week whilst the staff look after their little brothers and sisters. The young carers are also given basic life skills training and practical support on their return home. These children can be given the chance to be children again for a week.

It costs £90 for Child Headed Household to be given this chance….

2. Helping to Win a Battle
The fight is on to turn back the tide and AIDS in Lesotho before it is too late. Young people are best placed to reach their peers so the LINK runs SHAPE (Schools HIV AIDS Peer Educators) courses working with selected groups of senior school pupils. Over an intensive 5 days they learn the facts about AIDS and develop life skills, self confidence and assertiveness. They are enabled and equipped to return to their schools as peer educators. Participants and teachers alike testify to the programme’s effectiveness.

Each course for 10 young people costs £1,000….

3. Helping to Give a Future
You can give children the chance to learn about things which will help to give them a future. A lot of children are growing up in orphaned homes without parents to teach them life skills. This programme teaches them how to care for their environment through tree planting, water retention and composting, which also enable them to develop their skills to grow crops, how to stay healthy, how to live the way God wants, how to work as part of a team and to make their own decisions. And best of all, learn whilst having lots of fun at the same time. How? By supporting the Active Learning Days run by the charity at its lovely site by the lake. Classes of up to 60 children come to spend a day there, doing a range of activities which teach them life skills which they would probably never learn in their schools or by lack of adult care at home………………………….things which we take for granted in the UK.

It costs just £6 per child which includes transport, a cooked meal and all activities and materials.

A lot of privleges in the UK are taken for granted; at home, every child, no matter how poor they are, is entitled to a 3 course cooked hot meal at school. The children in Lesotho do not have this privilege and they need our help. They and their teachers think these projects are wonderful and they want them to continue; but the schools in Lesotho are very very poor. This means that children can only have these chances if people like us raise money to make it happen.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Please please help this amazing charity with as much or as little as you can - every penny counts.

Thank you for taking the time to read our page.

Please take a moment to visit the charity's website at:

www.durham-lesotholink.org.uk

God bless from Laura & all the folk at St Albans Church in Windy Nook

xxx