Yet another sponsorship request, but a well worthy one I promise you.

Myself and some friends witnessed the very upsetting daily challenges facing  many vulnerable children in Arusha, Tanzania, and this moved us to do our bit to help.    It has resulted in the creation of successful educational charity Shika which now supports 90 of Arusha’s orphaned and most vulnerable children.     

The backbone of this work is the Shika sponsorship scheme which is funded mainly by individual child sponsors.   The scheme which has been running for 7 years has so far seen 40 children pass through and graduate successfully from primary school to win coveted places at secondary school (only 52% of children go to secondary school in Tanzania).  Poor and vulnerable children are least likely to ever win places at secondary school.

While the sponsorship programme has been a real success, It soon became apparent that sponsorship alone was not enough to help the most vulnerable of children we support.  They face the likes of sexual, physical and mental abuse, HIV and extreme poverty to the point of illness.  We reacted to this by launching the Shika After School Support Programme’ (ASSP),  The programme provides vital holistic support and care to these children,.  Without it, they would find it very difficult to make a success of their schooling.  The sponsorship works hand in hand with the ASSP.  Both programmes are needed to help these vulnerable children make the most of their schooling.

Unfortunately, unlike the school sponsorship programme , the ASSP is not self-funding and over the past few years has become increasingly difficult to finance.  As a result, it has fallen to us trustees , to leave the comfort of our every day lives and take on uncomfortable physical challenges in order to raise desperately needed funds to keep it operational.  It’s now my turn…

 So, here is my request.

I have to walk the eighty four miles distance of Hadrian’s Wall starting Thursday 17^th April with three friends in six days, which will be rather hilly and I will of course be sporting numerous blisters as a consequence. Now, this has to be worth a generous donation, as let’s face it, no one has ever accused me of being the ‘athletic type’ – let’s be fair!  Please give generously or whatever you can to the Just Giving page set out below.   It really is for a great cause, and one that really deserves our support.  These educational opportunities are transforming the lives of the Shika supported children and their families.   . The education programmes are so effective, the ASSP playing a vital part.  The children are thriving and their appreciation and positive attitude puts many of our youths to shame!  It would be such a pity if it all had to halt due to a lack of funding, so please dig deep!

Also please visit our charity website www.shika.org.uk  and we would be very pleased to discuss any aspect or support from knowledge, selling our stock to sponsoring a child. Please Please help this very worthy cause. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.