THE NEXT GENERATIONSchool visits show promising resultsPictured above, the Next Generation Home kids are giving a cheeky wave. AfriKids staff, including AfriKids Ghana Director, Nich Kumah, investigate how well they are doing at school, and are pleased with what they hear. Operation Bolgatanga, otherwise known as the Next Generation Home (NGH), removes children from the streets and provides them with a safe home, basic needs and an education. Although the main aims are to resettle the children with families, some often remain at the NGH for a long period of time.

July 2011

AfriKids is a Child Rights Organisation working to improve life for Ghana’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in a holistic, inclusive and sustainable manner

While the children are at the NGH, the project staff do a fantastic job of creating a family atmosphere and take great care of the children. Part of this, of course, includes checking how the children are getting on at school.

The school visits took place earlier this year and included the six different primary schools and five secondary schools attended by the children. The teachers were generally very positive about the childrens’ attitudes and improvement, and of the few less positive comments, targets were set with the children to work on weaker areas.

Education is very important to the NGH children as it is something they did not previously have,

and in general, attendance and effort were both very high. The encouraging comments from the teachers foresee positive futures for the children of the appropriately named ‘Next Generation Home’.

Other focuses for the project are currently; sustainability goals, working with children growing into adolescence, and the ongoing weekly visits to the streets to discourage children from staying there.

“Visits like this make us feel cared for.”SafiaNGH Beneficiary

PROJECT FOCUSHelping HandsThe Next Generation Home is eagerly preparing to take over the funding of their project!As part of AfriKids’ sustainability goals, the Next Generation Home (NGH) has its own business that should take over the funding for the project from 2014. ‘Helping Hands’ is a rental service of chairs, canopies and tables for festivities, such as birthday parties, weddings, funerals and more.

The business was first launched in 2005, but in May 2011 AfriKids invested more money for equipment so that the business can grow. This investment bought 1000 chairs, 11 canopies, 50 tables, a new PA system and a truck for transportation. Helping Hands is now fully equipped to serve the needs of the Upper Eastern Region of Ghana, so let the

AfriKids AcademyAfriKids Eco VillageAfriKids Ethical TradeAfriKids Medical CentreBolga Area ProgrammeEducational fundKassena Nankana Area ProgrammeMedical fundOperation BolgaOperation Mango TreeOperation SINGhOperation SmilesOperation ZuarunguStreet Mothers AssociationTalensi Nabdam Area ProgrammeYoung Entrepreneurs

festivities begin!

Financial targets have been set for the business and at first, profits will be re-invested, meaning that by 2014, the NGH can run off the profits of the enhanced initiative and AfriKids can withdraw. We are all excited to see ‘Helping Hands’ expand, and the NGH will soon see the long term benefits of the sustainable business.

The NGH also benefits from a small farm, launched in 2009. The farm has expanded rapidly due to new staff in charge of the welfare of the animals. This has meant that the farm has grown to include 29 cattle which are continuing to multiply!

The home is rapidly moving towards its goals and AfriKids are very pleased with their progress.

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01: The NGH farmers standing before their cattle

02: Some of the NGH girls

03: The three youngest NGH kids, Charles, Johnny and Caleb

04: Taking a break from football to relax on the truck

05: A canopie in the early stages of construction

06: There are many sporty and energetic kids at the NGH!

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OUT OF

The festival season is here!

Nich Kumah comes to the UK (and meets Gordon Brown!)

It’s that time of year when the festivals start dominating the news and are here to keep us entertained for the summer. It’s been a very wet start to the season, but pictures and articles show that no spirits have been dampened.

With all the hype that surrounds them we think it would be great to see some Bolga baskets filled with delicious picnics on show. Also, the party goers sporting some ‘festival chic’ Jimmi Jamms pyjamas wouldn’t go amiss! We think they’d look great tucked into a pair of wellies!

If you don’t already have a pair of Jimmi Jamms or indeed a Bolga basket, you can visit our shop online: AfriKids Shop

Happy shopping and happy festival going!

In line with the topic of festivals, our very own AfriKids Ghana Director came to visit us in the UK and we had him selling Bolga baskets at a festival (well, almost) in Chalfont St Peter. In true charismatic form, Nich sold plenty of baskets with the help of Georgie Fienberg, AfriKids International Director.

It wasn’t all festival fun for Nich though, he went to numerous meetings, keeping his schedule action packed for the full two weeks. One of those meetings happened to be with Gordon Brown who had used AfriKids as a key case study in his draft report for the G8 summit. Nich and Georgie went to see him to discuss the next phase of the report and we understand Nich and Gordon got on very well. We will be sure to keep you posted on that report!

Nich also stole the show at the Sunshine Ball (see last page of this newsletter), wowing the crowds on the microphone and inspiring them when talking about Ghana and AfriKids’ work.

As always for AfriKids UK, it is an honour to have Nich here with us and the office is always an entertaining place to be! Nich does an amazing job of inspiring the UK staff and reminding us why we do what we do. We are already looking forward to Nich’s next visit.

AFRIKIDSONLINE

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www.facebook.com/afrikids Let’s tweet @AfriKids

AfriKidsAfriKids have done it again!! Shortlisted for 3 Third Sector awards - Brand Development, Fundraising Event and Public Sector Partnership! Keep your fingers crossed x

wwwalmtorgIt’s world day against child labour, show support for these wonderful peeps @AfriKids @cmc_china @sos_children @unicef_uk

MsClaireBlackVery worthy nominations #thirdsectorawards Well done everyone! @MerlinUK @AfriKids @BritishRedCross @TheProstateCC

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AfriKidsLet’s take a moment today to celebrate because it’s International Day of the African Child - cheers! :)

AfriKidsIt rained all day and night but who cares when we made a grand total of £37,035.07 at the Sunshine Ball! Thank you to everyone who came x

AfriKidsWhat a beautiful Monday - it’s actually hotter here than in Ghana!

20 Jun

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AfriKidsOn Nich’s last day in UK he was out selling and promoting at Chalfont St Peter Feast Day. We miss him already!

You can now text to donate to AfriKids through JustTextGiving. Simply send a message to 70070, give the AfriKids code- AFRI02, followed by the amount you would like to give (£1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10). Your text might look like this: ‘AFRI02 £5’.

Your mobile operator will pass 100% of the text donation onto Just Giving, which then comes directly to us. The minimum text donation is £1 and all donations must be in whole pounds sterling. The maximum text donation allowed is £10 for all mobile operators. Donations sent via text will usually incur your standard text message fee. Please refer to your tariff for details of your standard text message fee.

AfriKids Director, Sally Eastcott, was interviewed for the ThirdSector magazine by Sylvia Rowley about the key to fundraising.

Sally Eastcott, Director of UK Operations for AfriKids and the winner of last year’s Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year award, tells this story to highlight the importance of forming strong personal relationships.

Connecting with supporters on a personal level and engaging them as partners has been one of the key learning points, she says. “The fundraising department’s main responsibility is not to raise money, but to feed back to the people who have provided money,” she explains.

However, nothing beats taking donors to see the projects first hand, says Eastcott, who goes to Ghana twice a year and tries to take as many donors there as possible.

Sally talks more in this interview about grants and trust and statutory funding. You can view the article here.

Sunshine Ball 2011On 17th June, AfriKids held the Sunshine Ball in support of the G.A.S. Partnership (for more information on the partnership see our evening’s brochure) and we are delighted with the result. Not only was it a fantastic evening with guest speakers from Ghana stealing the show, the generosity of our guests on the night was overwhelming.

The evening raised a grand total of

£37,035.07!Thank you to everyone who came and we hope to see even more faces at our future balls.

FUNDRAISEFORAFRIKIDS

AfriKids and Greenhouse 5-a-side Football Tournament!Don’t forget to sign up to the AfriKids and Greenhouse football tournament this year. It is set to be a very fun evening with football, beer, bbq and prizes!

Wednesday 24th August6.30 - 9.30pm£25 per player (includes bbq & beer)St Paul’s Girls’ SchoolBute Gardens, Hammersmith, London, W6 7BS

Register online

or contact Jo if you have any queries:joannastewart@afrikids.org www.afrikids.org

A Special Thanks to Buckhaven High School!Buckhaven High School held a staff coffee morning, raising a magnificent £320 for AfriKids!

A big thank you to everyone involved for their efforts, especially staff, helpers and S3 Modern Studies pupils.