LAUNCH EVENT The MAD4Africa crew were delighted to launch our new promotional film on Wednesday 6th July at Earls Court to our supporters. Earlier this year we were awarded a place in the Vodafone World of Difference Programme and our recipient, Martin Harris, was selected to work as our Media Manager. His primary project was to create a film of our project in Rwanda which highlighted how this is benefiting the local community. To launch our video and to promote our work in Rwanda the team at MAD4Africa put together an event.
We then had a speech by Eileen Gilbey, who has spent time in Rwanda volunteering her services with our project and was instrumental in opening the Kiyonza Professional Training Centre in January this year. There was then time for questions from our audience before we finished the night with light refreshments and an opportunity to mingle with all the guests. It was a fantastic night for MAD4Africa and we were delighted to have two high profile speakers and our chance to show London the amazing work that we are doing in Rwanda. This is the first of many events of this nature that we will hold as we promote our work in Rwanda and to highlight the need for more funding for us to complete our first project.
At our event we were fortunate to have two wonderful keynote speakers in the High Commissioner of Rwanda, Ernest Rwamucyo and MP for Presili and Pembrokeshire Stephen Crabb. They both spoke with passion and expressed their admiration in the projects that we are delivering in Rwanda since 2008.
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THE FIRST EVER MAD4AFRICA PUB QUIZ! How much did Margaret handbag recently sell for?
Thatcher‟s
What is unusual about goat‟s eyes? In which London museum would you find a Chamber of Horrors? Know the answers to these questions? Well you must have been at my quiz night recently. Or maybe you should have been.
people turn up to support me and MAD4Africa, helping me raise over £300. 13 teams battled throughout the night over topics including the Olympics, movies, recent news and science. I‟m pleased to say we had a team of worthy winners at the end of the night, taking home some fantastic prizes (from Poundland)! All money raised is going directly to a project I will be working on during my first ever trip to Rwanda when I join committee members and supporters on a fun, action packed trip in September. Thanks to everyone who came along on the night and made it a fantastic success. It made all the hard work worthwhile seeing the fun that was had by all, as well as raising so much money for MAD4Africa. And the answers are: £25,000, they have rectangular pupils and Madame Tussaud‟s. ~ Katrina, Pub Quiz Organiser
Stay up to date with great events like this when you join us on Facebook and Twitter!
Plus, get the latest news and events on our website at www.mad4africa.org.uk
On Tuesday 26th July at a pub in Southwark, these questions and many more were asked, discussed and answered. On a night when I was hoping for 20 people to come along and with a last minute venue change due to the high number of responses, I was thrilled to see over 55
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pay for the running costs of the Kiyonza Professional Training Centre for 6 months.
DAY ON THE GREEN
It was another successful Day on the Green and everyone is already looking forward to the 5th instalment in 2012.
In a summer tradition that is now part of people‟s calendar like Ascot and Glastonbury we welcomed the 4th Annual Day on the Green. The wonderful organisers of Tam, Louise and Phil once again supported MAD4Africa along with another charity working in Tanzania. Thankfully the weather gods were smiling on us as the sun was shining as we once again started at the Amuse Bouche in Parsons Green. This was everyone‟s opportunity to grab their t-shirt and get to know other people who were participating in the day. As the first raffle was drawn and everyone had got to know each other a bit better we headed off to the Whitehorse to have further drinks in the sun. The numbers were growing as the organisers signed up a few new people who were out enjoying their Saturday afternoon. Once we headed to the Duke on the Green the group had swelled to 100 people and everyone was mingling with one another. Throughout the afternoon there were plenty of opportunities to win some great prizes including meal vouchers, bottles of champagne and the famous cupcakes. As the afternoon was coming to an end it was time to unwind and hit the dance floor with our new found friends. In the end MAD4Africa raised over £1400 for our youth centre in Rwanda, one afternoon‟s work will
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MONT BLANC In the week commencing 27 June 2011, five burly and boisterous Aussie blokes and one MAD girl took on the highest summit in Europe, Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is renowned as one of the most gruelling challenges in Europe and, indeed, the world, which we may not have fully appreciated at the beginning of our adventure, but we most certainly did at the end. All in all, it was five of the most wonderfully challenging (and in some cases traumatising) days and nights of our young lives. Each day we started climbing between 1am and 4am, ascended roughly 1,000 metres and descended roughly 500m over mixed terrain of snow, ice and rock. Some highlights of the trip include:
Seeing a French climber who had fallen off a ridge in front of us with a snapped leg choppered to safety by the amazing Alps rescue team (right before having to cross the very same ridge ourselves);
Climbing ice walls “Cliff Hanger” style (it is amazing what you can achieve with crampons and ice axes); Being scared and pushed to our limits on a regular basis; Watching the sunrise over the Alps and the spectacular scenery; Camping overnight on a glacier; Summiting one of Mother Nature‟s finest; and Getting OFF THE STUPID MOUNTAIN FINALLY at the end of it all.
In the end, four out of six made it to the top on summit day – Troy “Poser” Aitken; Kieran “Killer Calves” Fitzgerald; Luke “Ascentionist” Hume; and Michael “Bustamove” Kasar. Well done boys!!! Luke and Mike even managed to kick a footy and do a little dance on the summit, which will be aired on the Footy Show back home (in their native country Australia). Unfortunately a stomach bug took the better of Kathleen Stock and Carl Wilson on the final day, which they caught from their guide (of all people!). Together, not only did we have an unforgettable experience, but we also raised £3,500 for MAD4Africa, which will go towards establishing a pig farm for the Kiyonza Professional Training Centre in Rwanda, so that is will become sustainable and benefit the people of the Ngoma sector for a long time to come. Bring on the next MAD adventure!!! ~ Kat Stock
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MAD4 OUR WEBSITE
NEW
I joined MAD4Africa in April 2011 and as first order of my initiation into the team, I began redesigning the website. I wanted to create something that was friendly, approachable and was easy to navigate as well as something that completely encapsulated the „MAD4Africa ethos‟… a tall order! Undeterred by this daunting task and inspired by everyone‟s encouragement and excellent team spirit, I came up with the new look for the MAD4 brand. I drew on my own work in digital media and my experience of growing up in Africa to devise a website that inspires creativity and encourages interaction.
The general design is aimed to capture the creativity and enthusiasm of the MAD4Africa vision, best displayed through the use of painted buttons and hand-drawn elements on a natural canvas background. There are fun hand-drawn illustrations and a quirky left to right navigation structure which I like to think of as part of the journey that the MAD team is taking.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the MAD4Africa project is that it is engaging and exciting with loads of fun fundraising events. I wanted to draw attention to that by giving people an easy way to interact with the MAD team, so I included in the design a „social corner‟ where anyone can easily navigate to the Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as sign up for newsletters and event notifications.
Now you can all keep up to date with the speed-dating, days-on-the-green and other fundraising events which are not only heaps of fun but help to generate the funds needed to fulfil the MAD projects and make a difference for Africa. The next order of business is to start updating the website regularly with all of the exciting updates and information related to MAD4Africa fundraising events and the Kiyonza Professional Training Centre, and to start getting everyone involved on Facebook and Twitter too. If you haven‟t yet followed or „liked‟ us, then please go have a look at our new site and click through so that we can get everyone involved! I look forward to many more exciting innovations like this with the MAD4Africa team, and I‟ll see you all at the next MAD4Africa fundraising event! ~ Stacey
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STOP THE PRESS! MAD4AFRICA IS AWARDED TWO GRANTS The hard working committee of MAD4Africa have been awarded two grants over the last month. The grant finding team is made up of Richard Moody, Elvin Mutesi and Hannah Anderson and so far we have been awarded £1000 from the Bower Trust and £5000 from the Souter Charitable Trust. This is a wonderful effort from the team who have applied for over 130 grants from Foundations and Trusts across the UK. We are hoping to raise nearly £50 000 for us to complete our project at the Kiyonza Professional Training Centre. Our rewards so far are testament to the tireless work of the volunteers who have spent hours of their own time researching and applying for these grants. Great work team and let's hope we reach the magical £50 000 to complete our first project in Kiyonza.
You can now donate to MAD4Africa by sending us a text message! Simply text MAKE08 followed by the amount you’d like to donate to 70070 and JustTextGiving will donate 100% of the funds to MAD4Africa. Here’s an example of a text: MAKE08 £5 The minimum donation is £1, and the maximum is £10 per text. All donations should be in whole numbers, in Pounds Sterling.
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