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It was really funny for me to read Brian’s blog yesterday – I hadn’t realised he’d hoped I’d “go away” when we first met! As you can imagine, I was (very!) persistent, though, and it’s wonderful to know that he’s gone from being our biggest critic to one of our greatest supporters over the past six months.
CiF Team
Building a ‘Home’ isn’t in line with today’s modern thinking on social or child welfare, but as I’ve said on numerous occasions, we are not building an orphanage – ours will be a place of safety and care that ultimately aims to place children back into families. I think it has really helped that Brian is out here now, witnessing first-hand the need for the Foundation. After 4 years of me talking (and talking, and talking) about it, he – and all our supporters – can really see for themselves just how much we can do to create change here.
Meanwhile, our plan is really beginning to take shape and I’m so excited that, as well as building a centre that will provide the best possible care and set up a social work department to find families for every one of our children, we are now also committing to tackle the root cause of abandonment. We’ll be working with the mothers to try and support them, so they don’t feel that abandoning their baby is their only course of action.
Today, we visited Waakisa Ministries, who provide care for pregnant teenage girls. The project really gave me hope – they have set up in just two years, and we could see that it’s very well run and making such a huge difference. I think when you come across projects that truly work, it’s very good to learn from them, so I would really like to keep in touch with Damilie and her team to share our experiences – and get as much of their advice as we can!
Tomorrow is a big day for us, as we are visiting Mulago hospital. 64 babies are abandoned there every year and we hope to work with Mulago and Home Start International in the future – so wish us luck!
A lot of our supporters have asked why babies are abandoned in Uganda. I know where they have been abandoned– pit latrines, bus parks, hospitals -but I have never spoken to a mother before and asked the reasons why they are driven to abandon their children in the first place.
Today we had the pleasure of meeting some incredible mothers who will do anything to keep their children but here life is a struggle. In Uganda there is no safety net or welfare state. If you can’t afford to eat you and your children starve. As a mother, when you are faced with abandoning your child for your child to live or keeping your beloved child and watching them die what decision do you make?
Incredible meeting with mothers
We all sat round in a circle and we felt honoured that they opened up to us and told us their heartbreaking stories. What stuck me was their vulnerability. There was a reoccurring story of men promising love and financial security and then ‘disappearing’ when they get pregnant leaving them with no money, no support and a young baby to feed and clothe.
There were many reasons why: the civil war in Northern Uganda, HIV/AIDS, men deceiving them and then ‘disappearing; children being born with disabilities and being seen as an evil omen, family rejecting them for having children our of wedlock or defilement. All of these factors lead to these vulnerable young women being faced with a decision no woman should ever have to make and I have utmost respect for them for keeping their babies against all the odds.
A young mother and her newborn baby
We asked them if they knew any mothers who had abandoned their children and I was not prepared for the answer. One mother had killed their newborn baby by throwing them down a pit latrine and another mother had repeatedly banged their tiny baby’s head against the bed. Two hundred babies are found and bought to homes but what about the babies who are killed or never found?
In our phasing we put tackling the root cause of abandonment in phase 5 but I think this is too late. These women need our help now and if we can help them maybe we could save babies from being abandoned or killed in the first place?
Tomorrow we are meeting Home Start International, an amazing organization which Brian helped set up which provides support for these mothers and I would like to investigate working in partnership with them to provide this service so as well as caring for babies in our home we are also working hard on prevention as well as rehabilitation.
Show us your support and become a fan on Facebook – http://www.childsifoundation.org/go/facebook/planning
Tomorrow we are leaving for Uganda for 21 days. I am as excited as I am nervous.
Check out our team t-shirts
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Here is an overview of the first week of our trip:
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Hi there I’m Saffron and I shall be heading out to Uganda in a few days with Lucy and Brian to film the planning trip. As Producer / Director I have worked on a variety of entertainment programmes for BBC and Channel 4. Recently I was a P/D on “The Gap Year” for Bebo, an interactive online travel adventure following 6 travellers all round the world on the highs and lows of a 6 month Gap Year.
Saffron - our Producer
Africa and I have a bit of a history, like Brian the continent never let go with me either. I first landed there back in ‘98 when I went on an overland trip through Uganda and Kenya in my university summer holiday. Since then I have been back several times and on Gap Year I travelled for 6 months filming through various parts of South, East, North and West Africa. I am really chuffed to be using my skills to help this amazing project get off the ground.
In our three weeks in Uganda we really want to feel like you are there with us through the entire trip right from the moment we arrive in Uganda. This is going to be an important trip and we want YOU to be involved.
So for now it’s on to finalising our shooting schedule, checking through the kit, praying the internet in Uganda is up to it and packing the well travelled rucksack once more!
7 days to go!
In 14 days time, we are going out to Uganda for 3 weeks to conduct a planning trip.
Our aim is to build a centre of excellence to provide life saving care to abandoned babies and return children to their own families or to foster or adoptive families. This trip is going to determine just how we are going to deliver our promise.
We are taking Brian Waller, our most capable social work adviser who is now working with us to develop our social care approach. He has worked in Uganda and has years of experience in working with families and young children.
21 days is not a lot of time especially as we need to find the answers to some fundamental questions including:
Why are babies being abandoned?
More to the point why do mothers abandon their babies? Is there anyway we could help prevent mothers abandoning their babies in the first place? Tackle the root cause of abandonment and work with mothers to prevent abandonment and ultimately be the people they turn to instead of abandoning their newborn baby in a derelict building?
William from the Sanyu Babies' Home
What?
We now need to decide exactly what extra services we are going to provide beyond the immediate care of newly abandoned babies. Should we, for example, design our centre to accommodate mothers too on a daily or residential basis? We need to talk to government, existing projects and, if possible, mothers themselves about our plans and see where the gaps in provisions are in childcare.
Where?
Location is key. Our project must be firmly based in a local community. It has to be genuinely supported by the local people and local agencies and feel “African” and not something transplanted from outside the continent. If we cannot achieve that ‘buy in” from the very beginning our project will never be sustainable.
How?
We want to find foster or adoptive homes for abandoned children but this is not so common an idea as it is here. It would be easier to look after them long term in an institution but we don’t believe being another orphan statistic is best for the child. Our challenge is to find existing and reliable charities who do this and family support work well and who could work in partnership with us.
And there’s more…
Every day we want to upload a daily video and blog to keep supporters updated on the progress of our project but we need to see if this works on a practical level. We are lucky enough to take out Saffron Jackson, Producer of The Gap Year who has travelled around Africa and is an expert at filming, shooting and uploading videos so if anyone can do it Saffron can but it will be an interesting exercise to see if the idea in theory works in reality. We’ll find out soon enough…
What you can do…
We need your input as this is your charity and we want you to get involved. We want to have a conversation with you so please send us your questions, add your comments, send us ideas, give us advice and support and help us create a centre which we can all be proud of.
Comic Relief last night raised a record £57 million for good causes in Africa and Britain. This was an incredible £17 million more than their previous record. It just goes to show that even in a severe economic crisis people still want to give. Most importantly people want to get involved and show support by taking part in their own fundraising initiatives.
Collaboration and enjoyment are the driving forces behind the success of Comic Relief. Child’s i Foundation can only dream and aspire to such success and brand recognition, but our philosophy is similar – we believe in individual contribution (give what you can in measurements of time, money or love) and together, as a community, we will achieve our goals.
This belief system runs through everything we do: step forward the “Together to Uganda” Team:
I’m Katee Hui and I am the Programme Manger for the Together to Uganda team.
Together to Uganda Team
I have the privilege of working with a small, dedicated team of young people from Beacon Community College who have great ideas and a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. My team members are:
- Hannah Jones: Communications officer
- Matt Burton: Technology Strategist
- Sophie Phillips: Operations co-ordinator
- Tom Lawson: Marketing and advertising officer
- Alex Colville: Public outreach officer
- Chris Chater: Design officer
- Natalie Phillips (Deputy Programe Manager): Community and University Outreach
Our first campaign, Together to Uganda is all about mobilising people to collaborate and cumulatively travel the distance to Uganda through various means.
- The distance is 4012 miles or 6457km
- The idea is for various contributors to collaborate and cover this distance by a combination of different modes of transport. From skiing to sailing, running to skipping, between groups of people
I will be co-ordinating the team and its activities. My job is to help run the campaign, from the marketing and advertising side to the technological requirements and logistics. Currently, we’re working on the our strategy, target lists and timeline. Each team member has their own role too – to cover all of the bases so we can run a successful campaign.
p.s. Check out this T-shirt from Howies. We love it because it just about sums up our campaign. If you fancy having a go at designing something specifically for Together to Uganda along the same lines please get in touch.
Together to Uganda - Individual vs. Group effort
As ever it has been go-go-go at Child’s i Foundation HQ but whilst we cogitate and procrastinate over the nitty gritty of virtal bricks and mortar, Twitter anxiety and merchant trading accounts, our supporters are out there raising the money to make the real stuff happen.
It was tough but last night we had to dance the night away at Ginglik in Shepherds Bush, London, courtesy of The Golden Manor Medicine Show (Adam Adler, Jules Fuller, Ali Hawkins, Neil Webster and special guests) to magnificent covers of The Felice Brothers, Langhorne Slim, Dylan, The Band, Johnny Cash, Josh Ritter, The Stones, Muddy Waters and a couple of their own.
Approx £400 was raised thanks to the band and a few collection buckets. We highly recommend you follow the band on Facebook and watch out for their next gig.
The Golden Manor Medicine Show at Ginglik
Meanwhile across the waters in Japan Child’s i Foundation supporter Brent Simmonds organised a charity golf day in Japan and raised £175.
Undress for Uganda continues its glorious reign with the latest event raising £408. Since UFU has already taken on a life of its own we thought it deserved its very own Facebook fan page. Please feel free to share your tips and ideas here to help others host a great party.
Julien Buckley has started to plan his epic cycle journey in July. The route is not yet certain but suffice to say it will be between 1,200 – 2,500 miles some where in Scandinavia. He is planning to tackle it alone but he would welcome offers of companionship from other (crazy?) cyclists – Watch his progress on his blog.
Never one to shy away from a challenge herself and unwilling to let our supporters take all the glory, Lucy Buck is leading by example and has committed to jumping out of a plane. Please sponsor the crazy lady on Justgiving.
And finally, if all you’re looking for is a night of romance and dirty glamour we can help you with that as well. Kirsty Mitchell is running Child’s i Foundation’s first speed-dating event burlesque style on 23rd March 2009. The tickets are like gold-dust so email Kirsty directly if you would like to join in the fun.
Keep those fundraising ideas coming …
Last night, Lucy and I were privileged and honoured to attend one of The Spectator Digital Dinners hosted by the editor Matthew d’Ancona (our Child’s i Foundation patron), held in their offices in Old Queen Street – right in the middle of Westminster. As well as some key members of The Spectator digital team, we shared a table with an interesting mix of some amazing political minds, media gurus, music movers’n’shakers and advertising industry impresarios.
Our patron Matthew d’Ancona previously gave a bit of background on why he holds these events:
Link to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8PYABLDViw
Last night’s focus was a discussion with Ian Leslie, author of To be President: Quest for the White House 2008 and influential blog Marbury.
Leslie gave us a summary of his understanding of Obama’s groundbreaking and hugely successful victory. A victory enabled by the technologies the web has given us to build a community, but driven by a deftly controlled team of passionate people who planned their campaign with meticulous exactitude. The whole campaign was also cleverly documented and visualised from day one and became a real life political entertainment show.
But the true brilliance of Obama’s campaign was that he enabled participation at a grassroots level. He (and his team of campaigners) asked people directly for help and made it clear to his community that this potentially astonishing victory was entirely in their hands.
Lucy and I kept winking and nodding at each other from opposite sides of the table with the general excitement of all of this. We believe our charity is a micro-version of Obama’s campaign – well you know, sort of!
Importantly, we know that we need every donation of time, love or money our community of supporters can give us. Our belief is that all of our supporters are stakeholders in our success and the combined force of our drive for this success will build a babies’ home in Uganda and will ensure our home has a sustainable future.
So after dinner, as is our way, we promptly got to work letting people know about our charity and that we needed their help. As has become a regular and heartwarming feature of our campaign and our astonishing story to date is that they all truly wanted to “give” in some way.
If you want to help our campaign, find out how you can give love and time by getting involved or how you can give money.
From the very start, our project has been about creating an active community of supporters – an online family who, together, can help us achieve our goal of building a babies’ home in Uganda.
We have encouraged you to contact us via our website, follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook group, ask us questions, help us with our to-do lists and come and meet us face-to-face in order to get to know us and our charity.
But now the time has finally come for us to ask you to “give us your money” – and we can no longer be shy about it. We have our gift aid code and our Justgiving account is set up, so we need to get raising funds.
We’ve got a massive task on our hands, as our home will not build itself on love alone (if it could be, we would have done it by now thanks to you), so if you can donate, please do: Click to Donate
FACT: If every one of our 1,300+ Facebook group members were to give £5 per month, we’d have £84k in a year– that’s more than a 10th of the way to our target.
BUT having done our Bob Geldof bit, we don’t want this to be just about you handing over your hard-earned cash. Instead, we’d love you to raise money by doing things you enjoy – or that you’ve always dreamed of doing – and using our charity as an excuse. So from sky diving to mountain trekking, or stand-up comedy to triathlons, if you want to do something sporty, musical, amusing, unusual or just generally magnificent to raise money, set up your Justgiving page here and get our community behind you.
And don’t forget to let us know about it – we want to help you as much as possible. Although we don’t have loads of glossy marketing material, we do have masses of volunteers who want to offer their time, including loads of TV people. See what you think of some of them here:
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3VXOlCB3hA
You never know, if you have a cracking idea, we might be able to get a camera crew involved or find you a venue. Just ask and we will see what we can do together.
To keep you up to date with what we’re currently up to, as well as our wonderful Undress For Uganda Campaign (watch the video if you haven’t seen it and email Hazel if you’d like to host one), we’re just about to have a meeting about organising a speed-dating night. Just think, what an opportunity – you could meet someone interesting AND help abandoned babies find a loving home. Watch this space…
The Golden Manor Medicine Show - ALL PROFITS GO TO CHILD'S I FOUNDATION.
Child's i Foundation 
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