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Summary In August 2011, I will be embarking on a challenging 6 months of volunteering for a local Non-Government Organisation (NGO) in Mexico to help children who have been affected by poverty and unimaginable circumstances. This project will be facilitated by a fantastic non-profit charity called ICYE. To help these children, I need to raise a total of £3,795. I am running various fundraising events over the next three months via my old school and local organisations but I would also like to appeal to my friends and family for your support! Please make a donation, however small, it really will help!     For more details (and being true to form – there is a lot of them!) please see below. Otherwise, please click on the donation button at the bottom of the page <span style="color: blue; font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J THANK YOU. What this is all about In August 2011, I am embarking on a challenging 6 months of volunteering for a local Non-Government Organisation (NGO) in Mexico to help children who are at social risk. I have been accepted as a member of a fantastic, non-profit charity (Registered Charity number: 1081907) called ICYE, who are an <a href="http://www.icye.org.uk/why-is-icye-an-ethical-volunteering-organisation.html">ethical volunteering organisation</a> with over 50 years of experience in international volunteering. ICYE facilitates volunteers to live and work in countries throughout the world in helping to support local NGO’s and aid International development. <a href="http://www.icye.org.uk/">http://www.icye.org.uk/</a> Where I will be I am likely to be living with a Mexican family who kindly volunteer to host me, in either the Chiapas region (the poorest area of Mexico), Mexico City, or Puebla (Outside Mexico city). What area of work? My particular passion lies in child poverty and the effects of social deprivation, and I will therefore be volunteering for a local NGO whose work will include working with children who are affected by poverty and who may also have been; abandoned, abused, orphaned, or disabled or living/working on the streets. Mexico’s distribution of wealth and the effects on children <div style="padding-right: 4pt; padding-left: 4pt; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-top: 1pt; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; border: windowtext 1pt solid;"> Mexico is considered by the World Bank (WB) to be a middle-high income country (World Bank, 2008); with a relatively high Gross National Income (GNI) (The world Factbook, CIA). However, Mexico still has high levels of poverty and inequality that directly affect children. Mexico's vast wealth is unevenly distributed among its people where 10 percent of the nation's wealthiest have 42.2 percent of all income and 10 percent of the nation's poorest have 1.3 of the remaining income.  This uneven distribution of wealth has left half the population in Mexico living in poverty and one fifth living in extreme poverty. Mexico City alone has 1,900,000 underprivileged and street children. 240,000 of these are abandoned children (Action International Ministries). Children living in these circumstances are all too frequently exposed to abuse, inhumane treatment and even murder. They often resort to petty theft and prostitution for survival. They are extremely vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. An estimated 90% of them are addicted to inhalants such as shoe glue and paint thinner, which cause kidney failure, irreversible brain damage and, in some cases, death (Casa Alianza). The need for support is unquestionable. Anyone interested in child poverty in Mexico, the unicef report below is informative: <a href="http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Mexico_ChildPovertyandDisparitiesReport.pdf">http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Mexico_ChildPovertyandDisparitiesReport.pdf</a> </div> Mexico and my motivation Usually, when people think of Mexico, they tend to immediately associate the country with one of two very contrasting depictions: A holiday paradise versus a dangerous, crime ridden country caught up in violent drug wars. And yes, like every country which has its ‘beauties and beasts’....it has a bit of both. But...it is also a country which is so more than that......... When you venture away from the coast line of beautiful beaches lined with ‘spring break’ parties and relatively rich foreigners enjoying their holidays, you cannot help but feel captivated by the diversity of the country with all its cultural charm. It is away from these tourist hot spots that I want to go and fully immerse myself in the ‘real’ world of the Mexican people....but I want to do it at the tough end of the scale. Naturally, when you go anywhere, you hope to experience cultural things and see amazing places, and I hope my time away will include elements of this on occasion. However, I am not going for a holiday. I am going there to really push my boundaries, to challenge myself and to give everything I have got to make a real difference to children who live in unimaginable circumstances. By the luck of the draw, I feel so blessed and privileged to have been born into a loving family with financial stability and to circumstances full of opportunities, with access to education, a health service and to prospects of travel. I recognise that across the world, this is the exception as opposed to the rule and (while it has come to sound like a cliché) I subsequently feel passionate about wanting to make a difference to those who have, by that same draw, been born in to disadvantaged, difficult and less fortunate circumstances. I am hoping that my choices in life, career or otherwise, will always be made with this in mind. Certainly now, while I have the opportunity, I want to pursue this intensely by going to help some of Mexico’s most vulnerable children. While I am not under any illusions that you can go and change the world on a 6 month volunteering project, I do hope that with a lot of motivation, dedication, along with some blood, sweat and tears (which I have been told to save up on!) I might be able to make a real difference to a few. If I manage this...the first time of missing Christmas with my family, devoid of my favourite foods, being away from my friends and family, as well as going back to basics; hand washing clothes, cold showers, avoiding scorpions (really!) etc, and being away on my own for the longest I have ever been away....will to me, be worth it. Fundraising In total, I have a fundraising target of £3,795 for the (non-profit) charity ICYE. They will then facilitate my voluntary work and ensure that the local NGO that I will volunteer for in Mexico will not incur any costs and 100% benefit from my contribution. I of course will be working for 6 months for free. As well as covering the basic costs, a proportion of the money I raise will go towards helping a volunteer from Mexico come to the UK and volunteer for a charity in this country. Subsequently, charities all around the world benefit from volunteers via ICYE, while exchanges between countries also promotes intercultural understanding, equal opportunities as well as a vision for tolerance and peace.   So whether your motivation for a donation be; child poverty and social deprivation, cultural tolerance, peace and exchange between countries, seeing me step out of my comfort zone and taking on my biggest challenge yet! Or whether it is just to get me out the country for 6 months...! It means a lot. If you see the worth of my endeavours then please donate whatever you can, every penny counts and is so appreciated! Right...What I am doing (I will keep this updated) I am going to be running local events, going in to my old school, baking and selling a LOT of cakes, doing a 24hour silence (yes...really), I am planning to put myself through some sort of painful physical endurance challenge (details to soon follow), I will be writing a lot of letters to various organisations, be doing some general begging ;-), raffles, ...and much more. I will keep this updated as I plan and action!  I have wonderful friends and family who are volunteering their skills, services and doing challenges for the cause, and for that I am delighted and grateful! I am open to potential challenges...for representative donations! :-S Thank you SO much for your support Jo x <div style="padding-right: 4pt; padding-left: 4pt; background: white; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-top: 1pt; mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; border: windowtext 1pt solid;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 140%; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; padding: 0cm;">Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 140%; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; padding: 0cm;">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. <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: 140%; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; padding: 0cm;">So please dig deep and donate now! </div>

Volunteering for children in Mexico

Volunteering for children in Mexico

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