On the 3rd of May 2010, I'm going to be chaotically lumbering down the Guy's Hospital Tower in London (its the big one in the picture) to raise money for Springboard for Children. To understand why someone as scared of heights as I am has chosen to overcome their fear and abseil down the tallest hospital building in the world (I'm going for the 'softly, softly' approach...) then please read below - it will really explain why I'm doing this!
We often take the simplest things in life for granted. Like being able to read and write. Imagine your day to day life without these abilities – think about the implications of you, personally, being completely unable to read road signs, shop signs, the newspaper, cooking instructions, to name the more minor ones. How about your job – would you be able to do it, or even have got it in the first place, if you hadn’t learned to read and write? Would you have even got through school?
Now let me put it in context: boy, 7, grows up in a home, has never known dad, and mum battles a drug addiction that siphons away the money that should be used to buy food for her and her children. Their 13 floor ‘apartment’ is a far cry from the penthouse suites that can be seen just a mile or so off on the horizon, a mere kennel in comparison. In fact, the city centre is little more than a backdrop for the life the child knows. Perhaps he stares out of the window from time to time and wonders what it’s really like to be out there, living life beyond the invisible walls that surround him. Perhaps he even dreams of finding out for himself one day.
But he can’t read. Or write. All the way through primary school its not picked up on by his teachers, and even if it were they would struggle to give him all the support that he needs in a class of 30. He gets by under the radar through to secondary school, where he gets so angry and frustrated because he can’t understand or complete any of the work that he kicks off and becomes the school’s ‘problem’ child – labelled once more as a failure and a trouble - and drops out. If the school isn’t quicker to kick him out first, that is.
Lost, isolated, frustrated, angry, and with nothing to lose, boy, now 12, is out on the streets. The dreams he may have once had as he looked out of his bedroom window of the city are now all but forgotten as he wanders the streets of Peckham during the day and night with his gang – his new identity, security, sense of worth and belonging. With only a matter of time before he consigns himself to a life behind bars (or worse), the greatest tragedy will be that he has lost his life before he even had a chance to live it.
But there is hope to make the hopeless hopeful. That’s the basis for what me and masses of others that make up Springboard for Children are doing this year. We teach them how to read and write in a way that is accessible and appropriate to them, we meet them where they are. It’s not simply a task of straight down the line teaching though - we’re working alongside children from some of the most deprived parts of inner city London. Many of these children are up against all odds - neglect, effects of drugs, gangs, abuse, social insecurity, financial poverty, life poverty – on top of a learning difficulty which, in their situation, is hindering their ability to read and write. The typical ‘Springboard’ child feels that he or she doesn’t matter, has no purpose or identity or reason. We aim to show them that the opposite is true. That they matter. That they are loved and that they have a purpose. And the transformation in the children is amazing, not just in their reading and writing but in their self esteem and their hopes and dreams for the future. And the best bit is, they now have what they need to give themselves a fair chance of achieving those dreams.
But this is why I'm doing the abseil, to raise money. We need funding to keep changing these lives. Your kind gift will really see lives changed for the better. It'll be the cause of a child with no hope being given hope, a child with no prospects in life being given a chance to live. Your gift will change a life . And the best thing about changing a life is that it doesn't just stop at one changed life - because that changed life will go on to change another. So your gift will have effects that will continue to echo through history. I know it sounds over-dramatic but its true - imagine if Martin Luther King had never been taught to read, write, and be confident enough to stand up for what he believed?
[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.]
