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The RadSoc Charity Alliance
Last year the Radleian Society introduced a new way of highlighting some of the inspiring charitable activities that take place in the RadSoc community: the Radleian Society Charity Alliance. This initiative involved RadSoc forming a year-long alliance with a charity that has been founded by, or has key support from, an Old Radleian.
Throughout the last year, RadSoc has allied with Cricket Builds Hope, a charity which uses cricket as a vehicle for social change and women’s empowerment in Rwanda. Cricket Builds Hope was co-founded by ORs Alby Shale (2004, E/K) and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (1997, D) in celebration of their late father, Christopher Shale.
As well as sharing and promoting their work through RadSoc, representatives from Cricket Builds Hope visited the College to speak to the boys about their work, and the value of making a difference in the world through charitable activities and organisations.
The last 12 months at Cricket Builds Hope
At the Gahanga Cricket Stadium, opened by CBH in 2017, we have now added a second, international-sized cricket pitch. Having two grounds makes a huge difference: more senior and international games can be played but, more importantly, this has provided a great space for youngsters in the community to play. Each weekend, more and more children access the facility to play cricket, with over 300 now coming regularly. We have also started to provide regular English language classes for these children once they’ve finished playing. As Justin, one of the teachers, says, “English lessons are important for children playing cricket at Gahanga, building confidence and motivation for their wider studies, because many subjects are taught in English. They’re developing great discipline too, and parents are happy because they can see the impact on their kids.” CBH also ran hugely successful summer camps, where over 500 local children benefitted from sexual and reproductive health and leadership lessons, alongside cricket and other fun activities. www.cricketbuildshope.org
Female empowerment through cricket has remained central to CBH’s work. Women’s cricket is thriving in Rwanda and in January this year the U19 Rwandan women’s team made history by qualifying for the World Cup, and then defeating established cricketing nations Zimbabwe and the West Indies. We have also been redesigning our Women’s Empowerment Programme, which supports marginalised women to build a leadership mindset, develop entrepreneurial skills, and access opportunities to increase their income levels. We look forward to launching that programme this month.
Scaling up the impact we are having for Rwandan communities would not have been possible without the support of our wonderful partners and supporters in the UK. We’re especially grateful to Radley College and the Radleian Society for providing publicity for us this year and fundraising over £2,000 through the annual Eton fixture.
To keep up to date with all our work in Rwanda, people sign up to our mailing list at: http://eepurl.com/gEqkQ5.
