Hello all,

Firstly… thank you for taking a time-out to have a read of my Just Giving page. 

I have set-up this page to highlight the forthcoming voluntary project I am undertaking next spring.

March next year will see me and seven others head out to Rwanda for a fortnight to coach cricket to children who have contracted the HIV virus. The UK charity that is heading up this challenging initiative is Cricket Without Boundaries.

Our team are dedicated to helping, educating and developing local communities around Rwanda through the spread and growth of cricket. We will also be promoting personal empowerment, both for adults and children. The Charity uses sport as a vehicle to help develop personal skills ranging from basic teamwork to self-discipline and leadership.

In order to fund this voluntary trip I need to raise £1,700 before March. So… once again, I want to say thank you to everyone who has and is supporting me over the coming months. Please feel free to contact me with any fundraising ideas. The wackier the better!

December will see Ellie ‘go mute’ for 24 hours, and a host of other events including a raffle and auction so do keep in touch and please dig deep and donate now. 

I have included more information on the project, and the charity, below:

Cricket Without Boundaries is a registered charity in the UK, number 1111316, operating under the name of “CWB”.

CWB has three main goals:

•               To spread cricket through coaching children and teaching adults how tO coach; and

•               To link the sport to HIV/AIDS awareness and incorporate these messages into coaching sessions.

•               To bring together and empower local communities through cricket.

Working in partnership with the Cricket Associations in each country, the relevant British High Commissions and the International Cricket Council, CWB follow a simple, 3 stage, sports development structure to try to ensure some form of sustained development of the game. 1) coach education; 2) Schools coaching, and 3) Tournament.

CWB coach education takes the form of teaching the adults the basics of cricket through the ICC's Introduction to Cricket course (which includes coaching, umpiring and scoring) as well as for more developed coaches delivering the ICC's level 1 and 2 awards. CWB try to link our coaching in with each National Cricket Association's existing development plans. In 2008 the CWB signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rwanda Cricket Association, committing to 5 years of support from CWB if the RCA meets it's own development goals.