June 2013 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
THE AFRIKIDS BLOG Last month saw the launch of the AfriKids Blog! The AfriKids offices in London and Bolga’ are always buzzing with so much news, progress, discussion and development that when the end of the month comes, it’s hard to fit everything into just one newsletter. After lots of research and discussion on how best to communicate all this to our loyal supporters, we have now launched an online blog! The AfriKids Blog can be found at www.afrikids.org/blog and can be accessed by a link on the main AfriKids website. Going forward, this will be the place where you will find out the very latest from AfriKids not just once a month, but at least once a week.
What can you expect to read on the blog? Well, this is where we plan to post news from our UK and Ghana offices as well as project updates straight from the field. We plan to have posts written by staff from the UK and Ghana and even the occasional guest post from visitors, volunteers and partners. We’ll have posts on all aspects of our work, from working in a UK fundraising office to supporting microfinance beneficiaries in Ghana. Anything you would normally find in ‘Out of AfriKids’, plus more! So far we’ve posted a blog with photos from the recording for the Radio 4 Appeal in July and have done a series of posts explaining what we are doing on the four big issues the IF Campaign aims to address.
What about this newsletter? ‘Out of AfriKids’ has been keeping our supporters and partners up to date with the latest news from AfriKids since 2005 so we don’t want to say goodbye to it just yet. What we will do though is make ‘Out of AfriKids’ a quarterly update going forward, so we’ll next be in touch in September.
How can I follow the blog? If you visit the blog, it’s worth adding the page as a ‘favourite’ in your browser – this way you’ll be able to get the latest whenever you’re online. If you use Facebook or Twitter, we’ll be posting regular links on there so be sure to ‘like’ us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
AFRIKIDS DURBAR
To mark World Day Against Child Labour On 12th June it was World Day Against Child Labour. To mark this day AfriKids Ghana together with the Talensi District Assembly organised a debate around the theme of ‘No to Child Labour in Domestic Work’ which is the focus for 2013. Two schools with Child Rights Clubs; Pwalugu Junior High School and Adabase Junior High School took up the challenge of discussing this complex issue. Pwalugu representatives were to argue that ‘Child Labour in Domestic Work is part of a child’s normal upbringing’, and students from Adabase were arguing that ‘Child Labour in Domestic work is NOT a natural part of a child’s upbringing’. Adabase representatives won the debate, making a distinction between work that is part of socialisation and child upbringing, and work that is exploitative, abusive and impacts negatively on the growth and development of the child. The contestants were given certificates for their participation.
Besides the debates, AfriKids Ghana organised a durbar to celebrate this year’s World Day Against Child Labour. The durbar held on 12th June brought together members of the Pwalungu community, traditional rulers, school children and members of Child Rights Clubs across the district. Children from the St. Joseph Primary School performed a dramatisation of the negative impact of child labour, while pupils at Pusu-Namogo Primary School played music and recited poetry. The event was also attended by teachers, senior staff of the Ghana Education Service, the District Chief Executive of the Talensi district, the Departments of Social Welfare and Community Development, the Labour Department and the local media. Solidarity messages were delivered by the District Director of Education, the Director of AfriKids Ghana, and the Hon. District Chief Executive of Talensi District at the durbar. Stakeholders at all levels of the community joined AfriKids to say “No to Child Labour”, and “Yes to Education!”
AfriKids IT Academy AfriKids Blue Sky Lodge AfriKids Ethical Trade AfriKids Medical Centre Bolgatanga Area Programme Educational fund Kassena Nankana Area Programme Medical fund Operation Bolgatanga Operation Mango Tree Operation SINGh Operation Smiles Operation Zuarungu Street Mothers Association Talensi Nabdam Area Programme Young Entrepreneurs Programme
“This is a proud moment to be a Ghanaian as these young people have given me renewed hope that our future leaders are on top of the issues that confront us.” Alhaji Seidu Chairman of the debate
Musical drama by the Pusu Namongo Junior High School
2
1
4
3
5
01: Young people at the debate on ‘Child Labour in Domestic Work: Is it part of a normal child’s upbringing?’ 02: Young people at one of AfriKids’ Child Rights Clubs 03: Musical drama by the Pusu Namongo Junior High School 04: Richard Amoah, a member of AfriKids Ghana’s Senior Management Team giving a speech at the durbar 05: Clement Sampana, one of AfriKids’ first ever beneficiaries, will be attending this year’s One Young World Summit in Johannesburg to voice his arguments on tax avoidance. Read the blog here
6
06: Liam Nolan and Sorious Samura recording the Radio 4 Appeal. For the full story please see our blog
AFRIKIDS ONLINE The AfriKids Blog Here are a few sneak peaks at the AfriKids blog! There are plenty more pieces to read at www.afrikids.org/blog. We’d love to hear your feedback on the blog, and if you have any ideas for blog pieces please contact Liam at liamnolan@afrikids.org
The IF campaign and AfriKids - Aid
AfriKids
We’d bet good money that no one else received a letter as cute as this today. This has brought HUGE smiles to the AfriKids office
Radio 4
AfriKids Ghana’s Minister of State Gansah: “Ghana is among countries leading the way in the elimination of child labour Ghana marks Child Labour.. 12 June
Anna Rack
Check out what these people do. I LOVE the fact that they plan to close their London office. Brilliant move;)
STARS Foundation Today is World Day against Child Labour. READ: @AfriKids & @ ILONEWS pioneering work to resettle Ghanaian child miners STARS blog 12 June
AfriKids
Do you fancy taking part in Run to the Beat ‘the UK’s only half marathon set to music’ on 8th September 2013? ! Email Bea for more info at beatabishopmccarthy@afrikids.org
Violet Reid like this
www.facebook.com/afrikids
Paul Robinson Amazing stories from the team in Ghana. Cool seeing out projects with @Afrikids Alquity Insight Trip blog 25 May
Let’s tweet @AfriKids
The IF Campaign - What is AfriKids doing?
Oklahoma! Every year staff members at A&O put on a musical performance. This year they chose Oklahoma! which they performed at Opera Holland Park on Sunday 19th May and Sunday 2nd June. The sun was shining, the theatre was full of family and friends of the cast and there was a great atmosphere. The event raised an incredible £20,000 which will go towards the partnership’s total. The performance was phenomenal and AfriKids was extremely proud to be a part of this event.
FUNDRAISING NEWS BBC RADIO 4 Appeal We’re pleased to say that after a thorough application process and a lot of brainstorming and script editing, AfriKids was ready to record the Radio 4 Appeal last week. Jo and Liam from AfriKids UK went to the BBC this month to watch the appeal being recorded. Award-winning journalist, and long term AfriKids supporter, Sorious Samura is the voice of the appeal and the whole thing was recorded and mixed within an hour.
What is the appeal? Telling the story of one of AfriKids’ microfinance beneficiaries, the two and a half minute broadcast will bring the work of AfriKids to a whole new audience. We’re all really excited to be getting this appeal and will be shouting about it lots when it’s broadcast. It will be repeated throughout the week of the 7th July and we’ll post a link to the appeal online once it’s up so watch this space. For now, here are some pictures from the recording.
To hear Sorious talking about his connection to AfriKids and why he did this appeal for us, please follow this link: Sorious Samura - Why I support AfriKids
When is the appeal on? Sunday 7th July -morning: 07.55 Sunday 7th July - evening: 21.26 Thursday 11th July – afternoon: 15.27
www.afrikids.org
Luxembourg Marathon A group of A&O staff members took part in the ING Luxembourg Marathon on 8th June. The event was watched by spectators from all over the world, reflecting the international flavour of the city. Adrien Pierre, who ran in the team event reports: “I finally decided to join some of my A&O colleagues to run the marathon as a team of 4, two weeks before D-Day. And I don’t regret it. The atmosphere was electrifying: thousands of people on the streets to cheer the runners on, music everywhere, lots of support from the office… And running for a cause obviously adds to the experience. It was definitely worth it. I can’t wait for the next one!”
SPONSORED CHALLENGES Antwerp 10 miles Aelbrecht and Eleonore, who did the Experience Challenge back in October 2012, and around twenty of their colleagues from Allen & Overy Belgium took part in the Antwerp 10 miles last month. An amazing 34,000 brave runners took part in the various marathons and races throughout the day in Antwerp, Belgium’s second-biggest city. Aelbrecht, Eleonore and their team of runners raised an amazing £1,900 which will be going towards Allen & Overy’s fundraising total.
AfriKids still has places for Run to the Beat on 8th September 2013! Email Bea for more info: beatabishop mccarthy@ afrikids.org
Moonriders Cycle This month Peter Watson from A&O took part in the London 2 Cambridge Moonriders 100km cycle through the night, along with 257 other participants. Despite the cold and wet Peter managed to complete the difficult challenge. Peter commented; “The ride went well - despite the wind and rain and I escaped undamaged!” Peter generously added his own donation of £300 to his fundraising total, bringing the total amount raised to £2,111!!