Unite for Children

Steph works for TNS, the market research company - and they have a partnership with UNICEF. This means that throughout the year, there are various activities [eg sponsored runs, cake sales etc] to raise money for this charity, and TNS as a company also puts in money.

 

 

Steph has been quite involved with this since she joined the company

- going on runs, baking cakes etc - and now is on the working party that helps plan the company's charitable activities

 

 

 

 

She texted me this afternoon to say TNS will be sending her out to Malawi in November, to see how the funds are spent! This is really exciting news, and I am thrilled she has been selected to represent her company like this. It is especially cheering when her current housing situation has been a bit depressing for her.

I confess I didn't actually know where Malawi was until just now. Yeah, I knew it was AFRICA, but that was all. It's here...

a landlocked country just below Tanzania [where Alex and Tom are - but they come back tomorrow!]

According to the TNS website...

After successfully reaching our fundraising goal for Cambodia at the end of last year, TNS now continues its partnership with UNICEF by focusing our efforts on raising money for UNICEF’s Children’s Corners project in Malawi.

‘Children’s Corners’ are dedicated community buildings set up by UNICEF to support the thousands of orphaned children in Malawi who have tragically lost their parents to AIDS. Children’s Corners are a safe place for children to learn, play and come to terms with their loss.

At these centres children have access to nutritious meals made from vegetables grown at the Children’s Corner, and can use the onsite kitchen and washing facilities. Importantly, the Children’s Corners give much needed support to orphans who have full-time care of their brothers and sisters. With younger siblings safely cared for at the Children’s Corner during the day, the older children are able to attend school or take on work.

Each Children’s Corner has its own care worker, who is trained by UNICEF and works directly with children at the centre. The care workers also support the wider community and visit local homes to provide basic medical help and practical advice.

She worked with the street children of Sao Paolo in the summer of '05, and now I look forward to hearing how Steph gets on when she visits this project.

It has helped me get things into perspective too - at the weekend I was anxious about my 'homeless' daughter - but God has provided somewhere for her to stay temporarily, and she has food and shelter and a loving sibling on hand. [And a good job] So many children in our world do not even have the security of safe drinking water, the certainty of a daily meal, or a loving family to care for them.

On Thursday I was working with some 9 year olds and looking at pictures of a shantytown on the outskirts of Nairobi, in Kenya. The class could not believe the appalling conditions in which these children were living - they genuinely had no concept of World Poverty. Yes, there is a "Credit Crunch" here in the UK - but 99.9% of the kids I meet are unbelievably wealthy in comparison to these African children. I am truly grateful that my own generous daughters both have an awareness of world need, a social conscience, and a sense of responsibility to others.