Sunday 25 April 2010

Great news - a good gift of money!

We have just had a letter from Stagecoach North West, the bus company - and they have promised a contribution of £250 for Kasese Street Kids! And we had thought all our letters to local businesses had gone in their recycling bins...
Add that to the £300 sent by two of the "My Favourite Thing" people we wrote to, and we have raised £550 since we got back from Uganda in March.
Don't forget - if you want to help, write to kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk .

Monday 19 April 2010

My Favourite Thing - a Book to raise funds for KSK

An idea we have come up with as a fund-raiser for the Kasese Street Kids is to publish a book entitled "My Favourite Thing". We have written to dozens of people to invite them to write a short item about their "favourite thing". It might be a favourite place, a favourite recipe, a favourite book, or music, or activity, or pet. We have asked for a picture of their "Thing" (where appropriate) and a picture of the writer.
We have approached our relations, friends, and neighbours, and also quite a number of celebrities, both local and national. Royalty sent a polite note regretting.... Unsurprisingly some top politicians and/or their wives have not actually replied yet - it seems they have something else on their minds at this time! However our local Tory Candidate for Penrith and the Borders, Rory Stewart, actually phoned to say he would be happy to contribute an item.
We have had a contribution from a Judge in the Isle of Wight, and from a Bishop in the north of England. A local celebrity, Sir Chris Bonington, world-famous mountaineer, was the very first to respond. (What is his Favourite Thing? You will have to buy the book to find out!)
A local mum said that the Favourite Thing of her 2-year-old son, George, is splashing through puddles! We hope to get a photograph of him enjoying this.
Two Cumbrians we approached actually sent substantial cheques, which we hadn't asked for but were delighted to receive!
We will welcome all and any contributions to this book! You do not have to be famous, or local to us. Just respond to this blog - or email kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk

Saturday 3 April 2010

Are you thinking of contributing?

Since we have started publicising the Kasese Street Kids project, we have received some questions about contributing to the project - which is great!


Email: I have opened a special email address to be used if people want to contact us about this Blog or any aspect of the Project: kskjenkin@hotmail.co.uk .


Questions:

Question 1: Gift Aid: "Can we use Gift Aid to make any contributions more valuable?"

Answer: KSK is not yet a registered Charity, so cheques payable to KSK sent to us cannot benefit directly from Gift Aid. However KSK is working under the umbrella of Emmanuel International in Uganda. (http://www.eiuk.org.uk/cms). Therefore all donations made payable to Emmanuel International, designated for the KSK project, will be eligible for Gift Aid.
Emmanuel International deduct 10% for their office expenses, but as the value of Gift Aid adds 27% to any gift it is still well worth doing!

Email us if you want to pursue this and we will explain more.

Question 2: Accountability: "Is it all being master-minded and project managed entirely by this one young man? With his accounts being held in his head? Has he no 'bigger' and more experienced Mentor to help and guide him? Is a local Bank involved in any way?"

Answer: The missionary couple with whom we were staying in Kasese are serving with Emmanuel International. Two years ago, I saw that our EI friend had an "accountability" role with several projects - one we witnessed concerned the building of an orphanage, which was in progress at that time. He and the Ugandan orphanage leader had to go to the Bank together to draw out money to pay the builders after the builders had shown him all the receipts for cement, etc, etc.
So we asked him if he would take on a similar role for our project, and he was happy to do so.
Thus EI itself became involved. One of their founding principles is that they always work with the local church in every country. So they wanted the Church of Uganda (part of the Anglican Communion) to be involved. This led to a senior clergyman of the Diocese of South Rwenzori being the third member of the team - Enos Kyibibi, the Diocesan representative and the EI Missionary. (We had met this clergyman while we were there, and I liked and respected him a lot, so I was very happy that he was involved on behalf of the Diocese of South Rwenzori.)
A "Memorandum of Understanding" was drawn up, spelling out the relationship between the three bodies - the Diocese, EI, and Enos's organization which is called "Go And Tell The Children Ministry" (as well as this project he is involved with various other charitable and Christian activities in the area, prison visiting etc.) Whenever any money is to be spent for the Kasese Street Children project, all three people have to agree, and two of them have to sign the cheques.

Question 3: Support from larger bodies: "Does the project get any financial help at all from either their own Government or from any of the bigger charities such as Save the Children - and if not, why not?"

Answer: I did approach Save The Children, who have an office in Kasese. I spoke to the Regional Director and asked him if he thought that they might be willing to get involved with this project, especially with the long-term financial support of the operation. He told me:

(a) that Save The Children were more and more getting involved with cooperative ventures with other bodies, so this suggestion would fit in with that policy;

(b) that he could see that this was a very worthwhile project, and he particularly liked the holistic vision that Enos had for things like involving local government, providing health education, family support and parenting, etc.

(c) BUT he saw in the Memorandum of Understanding which I showed him (the nearest thing to a Constitution that we have) the strong Faith-based nature of the Project; and Save the Children has to be careful to be non-partisan and non-political, and this might be a problem. However he said he would consult his colleagues in Kampala, and report their decision to the EI Missionary in Kasese.

We have not yet sought to involve government bodies either national or local - but see below.


Question 4: "Has it been long-term costed covering both initial capital costs, upkeep and running costs?"

Answer: We were also concerned about the long-term finance. We had never undertaken to do more than try to raise money for the building of the Hostel, and we felt strongly that long-term support should be provided by Ugandan money, and they should not expect an endless flow of funds from UK. Our missionary friends had the same conviction, and together we came up with this idea:
  • There should be an "event" in some prestigious venue in the town, to which all important and influential people in the town - councillors, businessmen, church and educational leaders etc - should be invited.
  • There would be speeches, and perhaps a PowerPoint presentation spelling out both the present wretched lifestyle of the Street Children, and the vision for their future.
  • There would be food and drink.
  • There would be a coach trip out to the site to see the building, even if still unfinished, and the guests should be taken round and have the purpose of the different rooms explained.
  • There would then be an invitation to pledge long-term sponsorship, for the sake not only of these children, but of the local community wellbeing.
  • Explanatory leaflets would be available for them to take away, and commitment forms for them to sign then and there or to send back later.

This idea has been taken on board; a Planning Committee for the Event is meeting in early April and the Event is scheduled for 1st August.

Any further questions?