In November 2010 I flew to Addis Ababa with 19 other volunteers to spend 9 days working with the charity Retrak to help the street children of Ethiopia. It was a short trip, but one which we hope will continue to make a huge impact as while we were there we refurbished the charity's new drop-in centre in Merkato. As we speak, and for years to come, the existence of this new centre, much larger than the premises Retrak has previously used, means that the charity will be able to help more and more children find a life away from the streets.
The short time I spent in Addis, meeting the staff of Retrak and the amazing boys they work with, was one of the most extraordinary periods of my life. The work that Retrak do is astonishing and the staff are among the most dedicated and loving imaginable. The whole experience was so complex and life-enhancing, I'm finding it difficult to put into words, but I am trying and you can read my attempts thus far at my blog: http://danthackeray.wordpress.com and on www.facebook.com.
The donations on this page are what got me to Ethiopia. That's me in the picture, helping to pin the Ethiopian flag to the side of the finished centre. I wanted to raise at least £2000 to cover the costs of the trip and to contribute to Retrak's on-going programme of transforming the lives of African street children - giving children who may have been separated from their families, orphaned, abused or trafficked the continuing help which will allow them to realise their own worth. Retrak's facilities and skilled workers can offer these children the help, education, counselling and medical aid that will enable them to do this.
If that's enough to convince you this is a cause worth contributing to, you can donate right here and now. The current total that's been donatede to me, both before and since the trip, you can see above. Now that I'm back in England, I intend to continue to help to organise events to raise money for Retrak. I've already done the following:
- organised a cake sale and a dress-down day at Rochdale Police Station.
- walked the 9 mile Saddleworth Beer Walk dressed unconvincingly as Elton John (in his denim period).
- held a 12-hour fundraising concert, Footsteps: a Shindig in aid of Retrak, at Jackson's Pit, Oldham on Saturday July 17th.
- free-abseiled the inside of the Manchester Velodrome, as one of a bunch of volunteers organised by my fellow Ethiopia-tripper Tracy Coward, on Saturday August 21st. For this event I was sponsored to the tune of £80 by my good friends at the Oldham Coliseum ActingLAB, which has gone directly to Retrak as an offline donation (and so does not show among the donations below).
More events are in the planning stages and any monies generated through these events will go straight to Retrak through JustGiving and you can track the funds below.
Thanks for reading.
