SCREEN FREE YEAR

My name is Rafe Lankester. I am 11 years old and I have set myself a big challenge and would really love your help. If you have a moment please read my story.

Over the next year I am hoping to remain off a screen for a full 12 months to raise money for The Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) in Cameroon. The LWC is a rescue and rehabilitation centre for orphaned primates including Great Apes such as gorillas and chimpanzees. My father ran the LWC for five years from 2004 - 2009 and he has promised to take me there if I complete my challenge!

How did it come about?

During the Christmas holidays my Mum bet me that I couldn’t stay off a screen for a week so I wanted prove her wrong… and I did! In fact, I decided I wouldn’t look at a screen or play a computer game for the whole Christmas holidays which was three whole weeks. Well…with a few exceptions…. I was allowed to watch a few Christmas movies with the family but the rule was it had to be something we all watched together.

The funny thing was that even though it was hard it was actually something I ended up really enjoying and now I want to see if it’s possible for me to stay off a screen for a whole year!

The Backstory

Before the challenge I loved playing on my VR headset and would often sneak off when nobody was looking. I played a lot of Xbox but the thing I did most was watch YouTube shorts. For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, it’s basically a load of short videos that you can scroll through really quickly. Often the videos were really interesting and sometimes I would impress my family with strange new facts I’d learned. The trouble was it became something I found I couldn’t stop watching.

During the first few days of being off a screen during the Christmas holidays I didn’t know what else to do. Particularly during winter in England when most of the time we are all indoors but soon things quickly began to change.

Suddenly I was spending more time in the kitchen and I started doing more cooking. I spent loads more time with my dogs and rolled around for hours with my new puppy, which drove everyone mad but it was way more fun than a screen. I didn’t read more books because I find reading quite hard but it was amazing how many other things I didn’t realise could keep me busy.

Once the holidays had come to an end, my challenge was over and I went back to using a screen again as I had before. One day after school, I was scrolling through some videos and then a really scary clip came up that frightened me. I know I wasn’t meant to see it and often these things are deleted but sadly not this one. I know it wasn’t meant for my age but I guess they didn’t know I am only 11.

After this happened I started to think that perhaps life could actually be better off a screen. Maybe I could set myself an even bigger challenge and raise money at the same time?

The Challenge:

From 2nd February 2025 I pledged to stop being on a screen for a year (with a few exceptions, see details at the end) to raise money for The Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) in Cameroon. The LWC is a rescue and rehabilitation centre for orphaned primates including chimpanzees and gorillas as well as many other critically endangered and endangered species.

My goal is to raise £1000 which will go towards the essential day-to -day running of the wildlife centre and the care of the animals that live there. If I raise more than this it may even go towards some of the release programmes. It would be amazing to think that being off a screen could result in some of these animals being returned to the wild!

The reason I have chosen the Limbe Wildlife Centre is because I love wild animals and I know that all the money I raise will go directly towards helping them.

I would be so grateful if you could spare even a few pounds to be help me reach my target. Just knowing that people are relying on me will make sure that I don’t break!

Fundraising details

If you can spare anything at all, this is how your money could be spent:

$10 Fresh fruit and vegetables for a rescued chimp and gorilla for one week

$20 Immune boosting supplies, such as multivitamin, onions and ginger tea

$30 A wheelbarrow full of pineapples and watermelon – firm ape favourites

$60 Materials to build enrichment such as hammocks and puzzle feeders

$100 A weeks supply of fresh Afromomum stems for our apes

$150 One health check – essential for overall wellbeing and for early detection of any health issues

Challenge rules!

• No social media including Tik Tok / YouTube / WhatsApp / Snapchat etc

• No mobile phone use

• No video games

• No VR Headset

• No TV aside from factual / wildlife documentaries or anything set to watch from school.

• Movies are only allowed when watched with a friend or family member

Thank you so much for your support and wish me luck!