Out of AfriKids

AfriKids and Ghana Health Service host the first official visit from Southampton University Hospitals Trust under the new partnership agreement.

The GAS Partnership begins

You’ll remember from our last update that in late May 2010 AfriKids signed a major new partnership agreement that’s set to have a great impact on health provision in the Upper East Region (UER) of Ghana. The ‘GAS Partnership’, named after its participants; Ghana Health Services UER, AfriKids and Southamp-ton University Hospitals Trust, is set to deliver training in the UK and Ghana for health professionals in the UER. Training health professionals might naturally seem a positive activity but in the UER the need for such training is dramatic. For a population of over one million, the doctor to patient ratio is 1: 36,383 com-pared to 1: 471 in the UK.

The GAS partnership is delivering training in four areas which were agreed in round table discussions held in Bolgatanga earlier in the year. The areas are Ma-ternal Health, Child Health, Anaesthetics and Emergency Care, and Diagnostic Services. The initial funding for the training is being provided by DFID via The British Council and June saw the first of the training sessions take place in Bolga-tanga. Dr Malvena Stuart Taylor (Consultant Anaesthetist), Jonathan Stanger (Theatre Matron) and Laura Godfrey (Radiographer) visited the region with Nick Eastcott, AfriKids’ Healthcare Project Manager, ex-SUHT employee and a key driver behind the GAS Partnership. They all delivered training sessions and car-ried out assessment activities.

Dr Malvena Stuart Taylor (pictured left) was encouraged by the visit, ...I was in-spired to be more driven in improving systems back home as I came across the genuine desire to learn, improve and grow amongst the Ghanaian staff who are working under such strain and with severely limited resources.

The GAS Partnership is operating on a two year cyclical basis, working to tightly defined project plans . We are very proud to be associated with the partnership and look forward to seeing it develop and grow over the coming years.

July 2010

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

Our first visitors go to the GHS Theatre (far above and above) and review the training with AfriKids and GHS staff

Bismark leads a discussion with Jonathan Stanger and Dr Malvena Stuart Taylor (below)

Out of AfriKids inside stories

Sally Eastcott is officially Fundraiser of the Year One of our Directors, Sally Eastcott, has won the Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year Award from the Institute of Fundraising.

This is a prestigious award, achieved by Sally’s determination and enthusiasm.

Sally’s achievements were openly recognised when our International Director, Georgie Fienberg, nominated Sally for this

award. Sally is shy, yet immensely passionate, diligent and entrepreneurial. She has followed no template, but has developed

a style and indisputable success that is uniquely her own. She is now a leader within her organisation and a respected devel-

opment partner to major corporate and trust donors. Her staff are in their own words, motivated by her enthusiasm, dedica-

tion and professionalism. This year she will continue to spearhead AfriKids’ growth in terms of revenue and partners. She is

still only 27 years old.

The Award ceremony was held at the Hilton Metropole, London and was full of high achieving, talented people from many

impressive organisations. The Third Sector summed it up in an article online, The prestigious Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the

Year award went to Sally Eastcott of AfriKids... The awards host, BBC Sports presenter John Inverdale, said: “I am delighted

by the number of examples of excellent fundraising that have been celebrated at these awards. It is a true privilege to be able

to personally award prizes to so many worthy charities and individual fundraisers. My heartfelt congratulations to each of

the winners. Long may the good work of charity fundraisers continue.”

Well done Sally, and keep up the good work!

A special mention for a special supporter

Joe Reid

One of our supporters, Joe Reid, has done the unthinkable. He has not completed a

marathon in support of AfriKids, nor has he completed the equivalent of two mara-

thons. On 12th June 2010, Joe Reid set off to complete the equivalent of nearly two and

half marathons in one agonising go. A total of 63 miles, to be exact. He ran through the

day and night with his father by his side (on a bicycle) all in aid of AfriKids.

In his own cool, calm and collected words, Joe sums up why he would ever want to put

himself through such a thing:

...on 12th June 2010 I will be running a distance of 100km around London for the charity

AfriKids. I am currently studying Post Grad in International Development during which I

stumbled across AfriKids. Being mightily impressed with their work, I decided it might be

a jolly good idea to go for a little jog.... Well quite a long jog... Just over 63 miles actu-

ally....

Joe completed the run in 16 hours and 55 minutes. The first three of those hours, he

actually ran without water due to a mix up about when his dad was meeting up with

him. Joe seemed to take this in his stride and didn’t struggle until the point when most

of us would have been asleep in bed!

The hardest part of the run was the loop around from Kingston to Hampton Court Pal-

ace, to Richmond and back to Kingston. That was between 2 and 5 in the morning and

was very cold, my legs were pretty tight and I’d managed to acquire some lovely blis-

ters. After I’d bandaged them up and drunk some soup I was all ready to go once again.

To add to his positive attitude, he was then met by his friend, Marcus, who ran the last

marathon with him. And it is no surprise that he had a huge group of friends waiting

and cheering for him at the finish line!

Joe also organised a fundraiser with a musical theme... ‘Dreamboats and Petticoats’. It was a music event with acoustic per-

formances from one of the stars from the west end musical. A great idea on top of all his efforts.

Joe has raised a well earned and highly impressive total of £1477.

Well done Joe, and a very big Thank You!

The Ghana flags were waving at Buckhaven High School

A Pub Quiz Update...

Our June Pub Quiz was always set to be a success with our loyal, generous

and intelligent teams (!), but we had a fabulous and unforgettable eve-

ning. With over 20 teams, and only one able to win, it was inevitable that

there were a few disappointed participants. However, we think they were

all cheered when they heard that we raised a grand total of £2471.80!

The money will specifically help with the running of Mama Laadi’s Foster

Home and will go towards putting her 35 children through school.

There are plenty of photos up on facebook, and we hope to see even

more of you at the next AfriKids Pub Quiz!

We owe our thanks to a remarkable team of teachers and students at Buckhaven High

School. All the way up in Fife, Scotland, Buckhaven High School have been fundraising for

AfriKids in any spare minute they have.

Scott and Jan Geissler hosted an annual coffee morning recently, serving up an array of

delicious treats for the hungry masses (all home-made by the astonishing Jan Geissler).

There were plenty of helpers on the day, but a special mention goes to Kayleigh Radford,

a 3rd year student, who gave a full presentation on Mama Laadi’s work.

All those cakes and treats were well deserved because only two days previously several

students had taken part in a fundraising challenge. The challenge was to run around the

rugby pitch as many times as possible in one hour. Unbelievably, two of the participants

managed to run round 26 times in total—well done Nathan Doig and Craig Thomson!

In total, Buckhaven High School have raised £520. This is not bad for an hour’s run and a

ten minute coffee break!

Thanks to the students:

Kayleigh Radford, Scott Forrester, Elise Bell, Chelsea Soulsbury, Chloe Smith, Kimberley

Robertson, Elisa Bennett, Michelle Dryburgh, Sarah Thomson, Kathryn Craigie, Scott Forres-

ter, Samantha van Dieken, Nathan Doig and Craig Thomson.

Thanks to the teachers:

Scott Geissler, Jan Geissler, Julie Thomson, Morag Mathieson, Alan Brown, Faye Wight, The

Science Dept and the school office staff.

Fundraising

AfriKids and Greenhouse Charity 5-a-side Football Tournament

With the World Cup nearly over (well done Ghana!), make sure you don’t miss out on our football tournament!

Only a handful of spaces left... Get in there quick!

Thursday 29th July • St Paul’s Girls’ School, Hammersmith • 6.30 - 9.30pm • Contact: joannastewart@afrikids.org

£25 per player • Coaching, BBQ and beer

You are invited to...

An Evening with AfriKids On Tuesday 27th July

At The Harcourt Arms

32 Harcourt Street, W1H 4HX

Pimm’s reception and BBQ from 6pm - OUR TREAT!

RSVP: joannastewart@afrikids.org

Or: 020 7443 5118

We want to pick your brains about challenges, Guinness World Record attempts, projects to benefit, timings, achievements

and anything else that comes to mind! There will be a talk from Charity Challenge on what’s available.

How does the London to Paris Bike ride strike you? If you like the sound of it then great! If you can’t think of anything worse,

then come along for the free BBQ and socialising and throw in some better ideas!

The more the merrier, but please contact us to let us know you’re coming.

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