Summer Newsletter
2015
In Business Sofie and Jane work to transform their lives
2 | Cecily’s Fund
Welcome!
Social | To keep up to date with all our Welcome to the Cecily’s Fund Summer Newsletter 2015. This newsletter contains stories about the young people we support in Zambia, the partner organisations who implement our programmes, and our supporters in the UK who help make our work possible. We are, as ever, most grateful for your all of your generous support. Remember
updates, be sure to follow Cecily’s Fund on social media - we are on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at /cecilysfund and on Instagram at cecilys.fund
that to keep up to date with our work throughout the year, you can follow our news stories via our website or our social media accounts. We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and that you have a pleasant summer. About and Contact |
In this issue
Cecily’s Fund is registered charity 1071660.
Our
work
makes
education possible for orphaned and vulnerable children in Zambia. In Business With Fresh Start
3
Challenge Successes
4
Gifts in Memory
4
Connecting Communities: Learning for Life
5
A Visit to BISO
6
Partner Interview: Niza
7
Annual Review Now Available
8
Email admin@cecilysfund.org Phone 01993 358 089 / 186 Post Ground Floor, 6 Church Green, Witney, Oxon, OX28 4AW
Summer Newsletter 2015 | 3
In Business With Fresh Start
Supporter Focus #3: Millie Jaspert |
In this issue our questions are answered by Millie Jaspert. Millie met Cecily at school. How did you first come into contact with Cecily’s Fund? Cecily was a lovely friend at school and only a few days after I returned from 5 months in Nepal on my gap year I heard about Cecily's awful accident so I was very keen to support Cecily's Fund from when Alison and Basil first set it up. Why did you choose to donate to Cecily’s Fund? I have made a monthly standing order to Cecily's Fund for many years and this year, when my husband and I celebrated our 10 year Wedding anniversary with a big party, we asked anyone who
Sofie (23) and Jane (20) are two orphans whose lives have been transformed through the Fresh Start Project run by Cecily’s Fund. Sofie and Jane went to Nkana Secondary School in Kitwe and despite difficult circumstances, managed to complete their education to Grade 12 because their school fees were paid for by Cecily’s Fund. After leaving school the girls were offered a place on the Fresh Start Entrepreneurship Programme and have ambitious plans to grow their new business. The two girls were recent recipients of a Fresh Start grant to support their new venture “SOJA”: a hair salon offering hair braiding, weaving, cutting and baby clothes. “SOJA” combines the names of Sofie and Jane and reflects the girls’ close working relationship. They divide their time and responsibilities and have assigned themselves the titles of “President” and “Director” of the business respectively.
The girls are testament to the success of Fresh Start and how it is helping young Zambians to take control over their lives
would like to give us a present, to make a donation to Cecily's Fund. As well as remembering Cecily, I
Their tenacity and drive led to them submitting a business plan which was
like this charity because it is so
successful in securing Fresh Start funding to support their business venture.
practical
the
Cecily’s Fund staff visited Sofie and Jane in April 2015 during a monitoring trip,
essentials for education. I also like
when they had just arrived at the offices of our partner CHEP (Copperbelt
the fact that Cecily's Fund is small
Health Education Project) to collect their grant. The funds will be used to buy a
enough to be flexible and start new
dryer, toner and hair products.
-
helping
with
initiatives that build on the strong basis of school education.
Continued on page 4...
The girls are testament to the success of Fresh Start and how it is helping young Zambians to take control over their lives and futures. We wish Sofie and Jane every success with SOJA and look forward to seeing their business grow.
4 | Cecily’s Fund
Challenge Successes
Continued from page 3 Do
you
have
a
particular
memory you would
like to
share? I was new to Bedales, the school Cecily went to, in Sixth Form and she was so welcoming and kind to me right from the beginning. We were put in a study together and Cecily was such a jolly room-mate; she had colourful scribbled papers stuck up all round her as her busy mind whizzed from topic to topic and she always sang cheerfully to Since Easter three fantastic challenge events have taken place, each raising great
herself.
sums for Cecily’s Fund. Chris Childs took on the 35th London Marathon in April
enthusiastic about everything she
and completed it in a time of 4 hours and 27 minutes. The 2015 race saw over
did.
Cecily
was wonderfully
38,000 runners take part, the highest number ever. Chris raised over £2,100. In May, Martin Gregory (pictured) completed a part of “Around the Edge”, a drive around England in pre-war Morris Minors. Together with his wife Jean, Martin drove from Gloucester to Minehead and in doing so, raised over £1,000 for charity - of which £250 will benefit Cecily’s Fund. Most recently, 17 runners took on the British 10K London Run on July 12. Groups of runners came from Southborough High School and Doughty Street Chambers. Thanks to the everyone’s superb efforts, over £4,000 has been raised so far. Links to all of the runners’ sponsorship pages are available on the Cecily’s Fund website and there is still time to make your donation.
Gifts in Memory
Cecily’s Day | Cecily’s
Day
is
an
annual
celebration of Cecily’s Fund and the life of Cecily Eastwood. This year, the event takes place on Saturday
September
5th
at
Stonesfield Manor in Oxfordshire and begins at 1pm. We would love you to join us in the manor’s beautiful grounds (or in the nearby St. James’ Centre in the
Organised by our founders Basil and Alison Eastwood, the recent event at Wotton House in Buckinghamshire run jointly by Cecily’s Fund and The Compassionate Friends was a great success. In addition to enjoying a three-
event of rain). Please bring your own picnic as well as friends, family and chairs and help us celebrate
course meal and the varied entertainment, guests also heard about the new
this special occasion.
Cecily’s Fund Gifts in Memory scheme.
For more information, feel free to
Under the scheme, families who have lost a loved one can create special, named
contact us using the details on
bursary fund which Cecily’s Fund will use to support orphaned and vulnerable children through their education. If you would like to start your own Bursary Fund, please contact Alison (stableyardalison@gmail.com) or Basil Eastwood (basil.eastwood@gmail.com).
page 2.
Summer Newsletter 2015 | 5
Connecting Communities: Learning for Life A Look at the Communities We Work With | The photos below show some of the
communities
Cecily’s
Fund
works within. These communities feature
fragmented
rural
and
urban zones and face a complex set of problems which affect the educational and health outcomes of the people that live there. The new programme aims to help empower local people to face these
challenges
and
achieve
better, more sustainable livelihoods for all.
Cecily’s Fund secures a major new grant from Comic Relief to provide after-school clubs with the support of local Ward Committees We are delighted to confirm that Cecily’s Fund has been successful with a major proposal to Comic Relief for a new programme of work. ‘Connecting Communities’ is a three year project that involves the setting up of After School clubs based within communities and supported by Ward Committees - groups of community members empowered to represent orphaned and vulnerable children. ‘Sunshine Clubs’ will be run by trained Peer Educators on our Peer Health Education programme, with the help of additional locally-recruited community volunteers identified through Ward Committees. The Clubs will offer structured educational, recreational and psycho-social support to vulnerable children comprising homework and exam preparation for orphaned and vulnerable children in school, as well as vocational skills training for those who are outside the school system or have dropped out. The programme will also offer sports and recreational activities such as singing/ music, drama and crafts and special sessions and safe spaces for girls. Ward Committees will continue to advocate on behalf of orphaned children and build on the work of our advocacy programme ‘Hands on Learning’, whilst we build their capacity and skills to educate and train local people about financial literacy and savings schemes to support school fees. Our success in securing an additional grant from Comic Relief represents a solid endorsement of our work in Zambia, and enables Cecily’s Fund to enhance our impact on the lives of orphaned and vulnerable children living in the areas in which we work.
6 | Cecily’s Fund
A Visit to BISO Verity is Cecily’s older sister. Together with her family, Verity travelled to Zambia in March to see the programmes Cecily’s Fund
is
supporting
there.
Verity’s daughter Elizabeth, 12, wrote this moving piece about her
visit
Community
to
Bwafwano
School
outside
Lusaka. “I have known about Cecily's Fund all my life. Cecily was my aunt who I had never met and the fund my grandparents set up was always something in the back ground of my life that would come to the surface quite regularly. In late 2014 my parents got the date of my dad's sabbatical that would fall over the Easter holidays. It was the perfect opportunity for my parents to go out and see the projects they have been supporting for years but never managed to visit. It was to be an adventure of a lifetime. And so I found my self sitting in a car bumping over the rutted roads in Lusaka into the compound of Bwafwano school. The car was instantly surrounded by children shouting "muzungu, muzungu!" Before I knew what was happening I was being dragged by two girls a bit younger than myself into a circle of about 200 children with about five kids fighting about who was going to hold my hand. We danced round in a circle singing and at one point they did this sort of copying song with one person dancing in the middle. They danced so well, so unconscious of what the others thought. When they pushed me into the middle I just stood there like a dummy, with absolutely no idea what to do. They all laughed a me but not in an unfriendly way. They sat me down on the step and played with my hair and examined my fingers and laughed at the contrast of their skin against mine. We were given a guided tour of the classrooms and I was struck by how little they had. It made my average state school with its portable huts for class rooms and its chewing gum covered desks seem liked a palace. They had nothing at all. It was three, maybe four to a desk and around seventy in a classroom that in England would have held no more than twenty five. And these were the lucky ones that got to school. And they were so happy to be there. They had somewhere safe to be, somewhere better than standing around on the streets. Here they had friends and a hot meal every day. Also their future was not hopeless because they could get an education. We stayed for their lunch and watched them all queue (in a pushing and shoving kind of way) to receive their meal. It was nshima and cabbage out of two pots that was meant to feed six hundred hungry kids. I wasn't expecting them to have enough to feed four visitors but the dinner ladies gave us a meal to share. Looking at the way it had been cooked I didn't think it would be very nice and they were only eating it because they were hungry. But on trying it I discovered it was very nice and filled you up well. It was great to see how much Cecily's Fund has changed the lives of the kids there. It was amazing how enthusiastic they were to learn while I am certain that not one kid in my school looks forward to going to school. Seeing them I realise how lucky I am with the education I receive for free.”
Summer Newsletter 2015 | 7
Partner interview: Niza In each issue of our newsletter, we interview a
About CHEP |
member of staff from one of our partner organisations in Zambia. This Q&A is with Niza Nachalwe, who works as a Project Assistant for the Copperbelt Health Education Project (CHEP). In it, she discusses her role in helping to inform and empower local communities
CF: Can you describe what CHEP does? The Copperbelt Health Education Project (CHEP) is an organisation based
in
Kitwe,
in
Zambia’s
Copperbelt province. Founded in 1988 to form a part of Zambia’s
NN: At CHEP, we are committed to implementing health promotion and developmental programmes in the Copperbelt province and Zambia in general. The Hands on Learning project empowers community ward committees with advocacy skills. This helps them to engage with and influence policy makers to ensure that the fundamental human rights of orphaned and vulnerable children
national health response, CHEP
are respected.
was among the first bodies of its
CF: What does your job involve?
kind in the country.
NN: I have an interesting job because I am part of the team that directly
CHEP has been a partner of
implements the Hands on Learning project. I work not only with 14 local
Cecily’s Fund since 2003. CHEP
communities but also with government officials and the Ministry of Education.
implements our peer education
Our goal is to improve education and health services for orphaned and
programme,
vulnerable children in those areas.
in
which
young
people are trained to deliver vital health information in schools.
As part of my job I meet with ward committees and Advocates4Change (or A4Cs) to run training and mentorship sessions. I also develop case studies and narrative reports which help us lobby decision makers to increase their support for children. CF: Which part of your job do you enjoy most? My favourite thing is when communities are able to ask questions of decision makers and receive answers in a conducive and open environment. This is a rare thing in our communities, because we tend to see decision makers only on national TV. This is what I love about my work - I have been able to see orphaned and vulnerable children speak on behalf of their peers and make a personal appeal to individuals in authority. It pushes me to work harder and makes me more eager to see change in these communities. CF: How would you describe the relationship between CHEP and Cecily’s Fund? The two partners have a long-lasting, fruitful relationship and share a common understanding. Cecily's Fund has been there for CHEP, consistently helping to improve the lives of Zambian youths.
8 | Cecily’s Fund
Annual Review Now Available The 2014 Cecily’s Fund Annual Review is now available to download from our website at: www.cecilysfund.org/resources Featuring case studies, a fresh design and fascinating images from Zambia, this concise 30-page document is your accessible guide to our work throughout all of 2014. In addition to containing progress reports on all of our main programmes, it also features a timeline of the impact we have made in Zambia across our long history. The Annual Review contains a section of summary accounts which detail our financial situation in 2014. In 2014 87.8% of the income Cecily’s Fund received was spent on our charitable activities. 2014 was another important and productive year in the history of Cecily’s Fund. We hope you enjoy reading the Review; please feel free to contact us with any questions.
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