 On Tuesday 30th April, Osmund Company at St Mary’s Calne School in the Wiltshire Downs, raised over £400 for Children on the Edge by inviting Peter Wilson MBE to speak at a fundraising dinner. Peter is the gold medal winner for Double Trap Shooting at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Following a delicious supper with pupils and staff, Peter gave an entertaining and enlightening talk about his experiences leading up to the double trap final. Peter’s obvious enthusiasm for the sport, his commitment to hard work and practice, and his ultimate ambition to make his dream come true, were inspirational for the young and not so young alike! Bringing along his gold medal provided an ideal photo opportunity for many of the pupils and many autographs were signed! We are hugely thankful to both Peter and Osmund Company at St Mary’s Calne who, in addition to this event, have raised £250 through their ‘bob a job’ campaign and mufti day. Altogether the amount they raised will pay for rent on a classroom and a hot meal each day for 100 working children, for three months at our Learning Centres in Bangladesh. If you or your school would like to fundraise for our projects then please do get in touch.
 We’d like to say a big thank you to Deb and Will Egleton, who completed the 2013 ‘Just Walk’ event at Goodwood to raise money for our projects.
Starting and finishing at Goodwood Racecouse, Just Walk is an exciting sponsored UK charity walk for anyone wanting to fundraise for the charity of their choice. The event offers enthusiastic walkers the chance to experience a breathtaking charity walk over the picturesque South Downs in West Sussex. We’re really grateful to Deb and Will for choosing Children on the Edge and would like to congratulate them on walking 40k in 8.5 hours! Deb says of the event, “We were exhausted! But we really enjoyed the walk and are amazed and chuffed to see our total went over £500! We also hugely enjoyed over 70 miles of training walks... So thanks for the inspiration! We really believe that Children on the Edge is just that”. If you’d like to fundraise for our projects, don’t hesitate to get in touch!  President Thein Sein of Burma is visiting Barack Obama in Washington this week. He is the first Burmese head of state to visit the USA in over 47 years, yet his visit has roused protests outside the White House and beyond. Human Rights campaigners feel that, considering the negative state of human rights throughout Burma, the visit is too premature.
In some ways this trip reflects the evolution of some positive changes in Burma, but although there are fragile ceasefires, the release of many political prisoners and a representation of the National League for Democracy in the parliament, there is a very long way to go if Burma is to establish real reform. The Irrawaddy states that, ahead of this White House visit, many ethnic leaders in Burma have expressed anger about how the United States are not doing enough to support a proper peace process. The Guardian has described the disappointment that many groups have felt at President Obama’s use of the title ‘Myanmar’, instead of Burma, in his statements during the visit. This is a name that has been previously avoided as it is used by the military junta and not inclusive of all the country's ethnic groupings. Many repressive laws in Burma remain unchallenged and serious human rights abuses continue unabated throughout the country. Military offenses against the people of Kachin State have displaced 100,000 civilians and burned down over 200 villages. Children on the Edge have provided essential aid for these displaced children living in temporary camps and are fundraising to provide crucial early childhood development support for children in 12 camps. The Rohingya who have lived in Arakan State, Burma for generations are still labelled by the government as ‘illegal Bengali immigrants’. They are persecuted and abused by the authorities and the communities around them, and have become the most marginalised group in the world. In the same week that Thein Sein left to visit President Obama, authorities in Arakan State created a two child only policy for the Rohingya people. We have been working with this people group for the last three years in Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohingya have fled and are living in makeshift camps. Here, they are not recognised as refugees and have no chance of help for their children. We are currently providing education to 1,800 children in makeshift refugee camps and are looking to expand to meet the increasing need. This article in the New York Times, co-authored by Benedict Rogers of CSW, provides an excellent overview of the situation in Burma and the international response. Read more about our projects with the Kachin and Rohingya people of Burma, and please consider donating.  We'd like to introduce you to our friends at Bell Tent Parties. These friendly, Chichester based folks provide a beautiful bell tent with handmade themed decorations, available to hire for all sorts of parties and events. Not only this, but a donation from every event they do comes straight to Children on the Edge!
This Saturday they had their first ever event at Oving Scarecrow day. Here the Bell Tent team got lots of children involved in a competition colouring in scarecrow pictures inside their lovely tent, as well as having great fun with the dressing up basket and pirate treasure box! This simple competition raised £18 for our projects and a lucky five year old girl from Bosham won a prize of a bucket of yummy Montezuma's chocolates. We'd like to say a huge thank you to Bell Tent Parties and we look forward to working with them in the future. If you think your business can support us in this way then don't hesitate to get in touch. |
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Children on the Edge, 5 The Victoria, 25 St Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 7LT, UK | 01243 538530 | communications@childrenontheedge.org