Story
<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">Thanks so much to everyone who has donated to <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a title="VSO" href="http://www.vso.org.uk/"><span style="color: #800080;">Voluntary Services Overseas</span></a></strong></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;"> through our page. If you're thinking of donating, please do! Read on below to find out why.<br></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">We are now in Nairobi, Kenya, working with Kenyan NGOs as part of VSO's disability programme. You can follow our experiences on our blog at <a title="Jonchards in Kenya blog" href="http://jonchardsinkenya.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #ff6600;"><strong>http://jonchardsinkenya.blogspot.com</strong></span></a>. <br></span>
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<p><strong><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">Our VSO story...</span></strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">We survived a long and sometimes painful assessment process, lots of training, packing up our lives and finishing our UK jobs. And now we're here, in Kenya, until July 2012. We can't quite get our heads around it!<br></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;"><strong>Dan </strong>will be working as an Organisational Development Programme Officer with <a title="SEP" href="http://www.sepkenya.com">Special Education Professionals</a>, working with them to develop their strategy, policies and procedures to improve the lives of children with special needs and their parents in Kenya.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;"><strong>Helen </strong>will be a Resourse Mobilisation Advisor with <a title="KUB" href="http://www.kub.or.ke">The Kenya Union of the Blind</a>, supporting with fundraising and publicity so they can 'unite and empower' visually impaired people all over Kenya.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">Our target is to raise <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">£2,000 </strong>for VSO, so please consider donating. </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">With your help – even a small donation – we can reach our target. Thank you so much for any support you can give.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">£2,000 could also help VSO send a teacher-trainer to Nepal, an advocacy specialist to India or a physiotherapist to Ethiopia. Find out more about VSO's amazing work at <a title="VSO" href="http://www.vso.org.uk/"><span style="color: #800080;">www.vso.org.uk</span></a>. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial;">Thank you for any support you can give – we (and VSO) really appreciate it!</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Arial;">Dan and Helen x x x</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;"><em><strong>***</strong> Remember, our fundraising is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> for us or our placements - we've just chosen to support this fantastic charity that sends professionals overseas to fight poverty and disadvantage. You are contributing</em><em> towards the £15,000 per volunteer VSO commit every year<strong>***</strong></em></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; color: black; font-family: Arial;">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 -we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</span></p>
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