Dorset House on the Downs - 2014

As long term supporters of Children on the Edge, over the years the pupils of Dorset House School have found many ingenious ways of raising funds for us. Last Friday, for the second year running they decided to set off on a 7-mile sponsored walk across the South Downs.

A few days before the walk we went into the school to run some workshops about children’s rights. The children also had the chance to learn about the plight of over a million Syrian refugees in Lebanon and what they could help.

On the morning of the walk the whole school arrived at Whiteways car park in the beautiful sunshine, ready to take on the journey. To add in an extra challenge for the children, each group were asked to carry a big container of water from the start to our lunch meeting place. This meant they were carrying additional weight for about 3 miles. True to form the groups found ways of sharing the weight between them so no one person had to carry it alone. 

Our Community Fundraiser, Sarah Collison went along to the walk and said "The children had some fantastic methods of getting the water to the meeting point, ranging from tying it to a stick and having one person on either side, to wrapping it in a raincoat and having a child hold each sleeve. Whichever technique they used, every group got all the water to the meeting place without loosing any en-route!".

At lunch the water was divided out between everyone and the group had a discussion about how much water you might need to carry, to provide enough for a family for a whole day. They talked about how this is what a huge number of children around the world have to do each day.

Overall a great day was had by all and already a lot of money has been raised. All proceeds from the day are going to help children at the Child Friendly Space we support in Uganda and Syrian refugee children attending the new Camp Schools in Lebanon.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to the staff and students at Dorset House, not only for raising money, but for taking such a keen interest in the lives of other children across the world. If you would like to help this brilliant school with their challenge, and reward all of the children’s hard work, please donate now by texting EDGE97£10 to 70070 to donate £10.  You can also donate via their Just Giving page.

If your school is interested in working with Children on the Edge, give Sarah a call at the office on 01243 538530 or drop her an e-mail. 

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