Out of AfriKids
October 2009
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
Pretty, Joe, Little Mama and Gifty
AfriKids is chosen as Deutsche Bank Charity of the Year ! Joe (pictured above and below) and Gifty (pictured above) appealed to Deutsche Bank employees through a video message from Mama Laadi’s. Click on the picture below to view the children in action!
Many of you have followed and contributed to AfriKids’ campaign to become Deutsche Bank Charity of the Year. Nick Lawson, founder of the Angus Lawson Memorial Trust www.almt.org and one of AfriKids’ most committed supporters nominated us for the partnership in June and since then we have worked through a competitive process of short listing and finally a staff vote conducted across the UK over two weeks.
This partnership signals the biggest fundraising opportunity AfriKids has had to date and gives us the chance to drive forward AfriKids Ghana’s work in education whilst they progress towards sustainability. Along with the Marine Conservation Society www.mcsuk.org we will be working throughout 2010 to generate enthusiasm, involvement and generosity across Deutsche Bank UK.
It was a very close run competition with every vote making a difference and every member of the AfriKids family putting in their all; from Joe and Gifty at Mama Laadi’s learning new English words to film a special appeal, to Rebekah our new intern who found herself outside Deutsche Bank offices in Birmingham and Liverpool at 6am on her first week and to the many of you who encouraged friends and family at Deutsche Bank to chose AfriKids.
Thank you!
“There were tangible skills we practised and refined but it was the small nuances of patient interactions that we found the most rewarding and the biggest learning curve� Jen, medical elective student on her time at the AfriKids Medical Centre
Out of AfriKids inside stories AfriKids UK have a new staff member! AfriKids is delighted to congratulate Nick Eastcott for being one of the winners selected for the Vodafone Foundation’s 2009 World of Difference International Programme. Vodafone will be paying Nick to work for AfriKids over the next 12 months. Nick’s already been working with AfriKids in a voluntary capacity since 2006 and we consider him as a great asset to the organisation. During his World of Difference year as a Healthcare Project Manager in Bolgatanga, Nick hopes to secure a formal link between Southampton University Hospitals Trust, Ghana Health Services and AfriKids to drive the documentation of AfriKids’ Healthcare strategy and the processes within the medical centre.
“My experience helping AfriKids has given me strong personal and professional ties with the AfriKids Ghana staff and senior figures within Ghana Health Services. I feel I have the opportunity to take the skills developed in my professional career and use them in this critical juncture in the development of AfriKids’ work in healthcare. This work has the potential to impact upon over 100,000 of Ghana’s poorest people” (extract from Nick’s application to Vodafone).
Welcome on board Nick!
Keen photographer Nick with some of AfriKids’ beneficiaries
Two medical elective students from Southampton University take on the AfriKids Medical Centre from medical school working at the AfriKids Medical Centre in Bolgatanga. They left thinking
As individuals and medical students the list of all the things we learnt was they would learn about tropical diseases seeming never-ending. There and help Dr Nwosu and the team at the were tangible skills we AfriKids Medical Centre, but the experience gave them a whole lot more. practised and refined but it “Exposure to medical cases we was the small nuances of will never see in the UK, time patient interactions that we to practise our clinical skills found the most rewarding and one on one teaching with and the biggest learning a superb physician/surgeon curve”. It was a challenging and Jenny Palfrey (pictured ensured we never had a extremely rewarding experience for above) and Chris moment to spare and we only Chris and Jenny as well as a great way Arrowsmith, two medical to embed our burgeoning link with students from the University went home when everyone had Southampton University Hospitals of Southampton decided to been seen. Queues of patients Trust. Thank you to Chris and Jenny for all their hard work. arrived from the early hours. spend their last holiday
Fundraising We need you to help us to raise funds for October Thank you! Medals for the teams competing in the annual football tournament Help make this annual sporting event a memorable one by providing the medals for the winning teams. Total cost for 135 medals: £113.95
4 Brighton marathon places Raise money for AfriKids by running in Brighton’s first ever marathon! We have 4 places up for grabs. For more information please contact: lissawallington@afrikids.org www.brightonmarathon.co.uk
AfriKids 2010 desk calendars AfriKids’ 2010 desk calendars are now available to buy Child streetism (The state of existence in which individuals come to rely on what the streets of towns and cities have to offer in order to live) and child labour are two significant problems in northern Ghana
Snap them up early! £6 each or two for £10.
and they impact on all of AfriKids work. It is for this reason that we host an annual awareness‐raising football
tournament. The October 2009 tournament is going to be the 6th of its kind. With teams representing all of our projects , including street children alongside the best teams in the region, the tournament attracts up to 10,000 local spectators. Please see our list of fundraising needs to the right to provide funding for the medals required for the winning teams.
AfriKids Social Investment club Enjoy breathtaking views across London from the top of the Barclays building, learn more about an NGO at the cutting edge of real development for Africa and take the opportunity to be part of it. For more information contact: lissawallington@afrikids.org