Thank you for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. Your donations will be go to support projects we shall be visiting when we fund our own trip to Ghana with International Needs. Your gift is not paying for our trip! Please see below for more details about the projects.
Update 5th July 2011: We are home again!
I am delighted to say we travelled back a lot lighter! Male teachers at Agotorme school were thrilled to be the given the base ball caps donated by Road Pilot.
Richard had the opportunity to teach Solassi, a teacher at the school how to mend the chairs, so we left the tools with Sylvanus in order that other schools might also be able to do simple maintenance themselves.
I really enjoyed my time in the schools with the children, it is a long time since I have been fought over!!!! White skin is such a rare sight, they just wanted to touch it!! The children of St Luke's will be pleased to hear that the children in Ghana enjoyed playing crocodile and cheetah.....we played it at nearly every school we visited!
It was a privilege to spend time at the Vocational Training Centre, where my feet got pampered, a dress was made for me, and I was invited into various classes, being accompanied by the lovely Happy, who acted as my interpreter.
There is too much to say on this short page, so if you want to hear more, just get in touch, we would love to share our story with you!
Update 19th June 2011: Our Bags are packed!
"Are we ready?", No, but we are packed. That is all 4 of our bags, never have we travelled so heavy....but never have we travelled with a drill? a tool kit? or a bag of squidgy balls, balloons and hooters!
We think we are looking forward to our trip, but feeling a little apprehensive! We will be in a group of 7 all travelling with International Needs. We are not sure how much of a difference we ourselves will make, but we know that you visiting this page has! THANKYOU!
Update 15th May 2011: Delapre Dining
Huge thanks to the friends who showed their support by joining us for dinner last night. We really hope you enjoyed the evening. You all broke "the rules" but we appreciate your kind gestures, so THANKYOU for being so thoughtful and for being wonderful dinner guests.
Now what was it that was said about hallucinations, mosquito nets and dead birds?
Update 2nd May 2011: We All Walk To The Summit!
Here is an update on our antics in Snowdon on Saturday 30th April. If you have not visited the page before, do read on, and you will see why we did what we did!
On Saturday 30th April together with some friends (the Butler family: Geoff, Claire, Matthew and Hannah; Hannah's uni friend, Naomi; and Liz) we set out to go to the summit of Mount Snowdon, the tallest mountain in England and Wales. Richard and the team set out from Ranger's path, on schedule at 9am. While Heather set the sat nav and heads for the train station with Liz.....all according to the plan..... the weather looks good, a few clouds, but generally blue sky with a little breeze....perfect weather for "fair weather Heather"..... Just as Heather is about to turn into the station car park the mobile rings.....
"Mrs May, just to let you know the train will be stopping part way up the mountain today, due to high winds".
"Thats Ok" we think, we can walk that extra section up and meet the others at the summit......"still it will save our legs a bit" says Liz.
So we put into effect plan B..... but we discover a slight flaw ...... "you can take the train up, but you cannot get off the train! The winds are gusting to 65mph... it's too dangerous, you might get blown away! (Oh and by the way the toilets are not open at the top!)"
OK, so what is plan C?....hhmmmm, well there appears to be only one way for us to get to the summit.......so it is back to the car, unload Heather's rucksack of the bottle of champagne replace it with some extra layers, now we too are ready.....ready to walk ....take a look at the routes taken by Heather and Richard and you will see what we each did.
When the walking team get almost to the top, the two paths crossed. Richard ,accompanied by Geoff, walked down to meet Heather and Liz...they did not know how far down they would need to go....it was not halfway....but ssssh it was nearly..... in truth it was a very windy tricky section, but Richard collected his wife, Geoff his family's lunch....they said they came to check we were OK, but it was not long before they upped the pace a little....until we met up with the others for a quick lunch stop .......and yes, the boys ensured we all walked to the summit and they would like to highlight the gradient shown on their route...yes they did so much more! But Liz and Heather did so much more than they had planned to do too!!
The best laid plans of mice and the Mays were blown away.... but as the photos show everyone made it, all still smiling. We hope our story makes you smile, and if it does, please do donate to support the projects in Ghana we are visiting in June.
P.S. A successful ascent and descent without the power of steam or diesel and with no toilet stops - now that was a challenge!
What we are doing...
This spring we have decided to raise support and awareness of the work of International Needs in Ghana. International Needs has worked to negotiate the release of 3000+ women and children from the Trokosi slavery practice. INeeds have set up a vocational training centre and run micro-credit schemes, enabling women who have had no education to gain a skill and then set up their own small business
In June we will be funding our own trip to go with International Needs to see the work of the training centre first hand, as well as visit a school which needs to be rebuilt from "sticks into bricks". The intention is that we get involved in a practical way while we are there, but we know that more than anything they need resources, so that is why we have set up this page, you can help us make a difference.
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 International Needs and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer.
In Ghana a small amount of money can make a huge difference, so please just give whatever you are comfortable with. Your gift will be passed directly to the charity, to be used at the projects in Ghana, it will NOT be funding our trip!
Thankyou for helping us make a difference!
