Tags
active challenges, adventures, charity donation, conscious effort, culture, facing fears, fundraising, gratitude, happiness, simple, simple pleasures, SOS Africa
I have talked before about my adventurous streak and how I buried it for many years before finally fulfilling my ambition of doing a freefall parachute jump in aid of Marie Curie Nurses. I was brought up to have a social conscience and to be aware of how much I had compared to others. It is fair to say that, if I knew when I left school what I know now, I am sure that I would have worked in the Third Sector for the whole of my career. Making a difference to others is important to me, I am passionate about allowing people to seize opportunities in life, helping to provide support to people who need it. Let’s face it we all need support at some time in our lives but how many of us recognise when others need support and what do we consider as support? For me, it can be anything from lending a helping hand to move a friend, a listening ear for somebody struggling to make a decision through to supporting a young person gain an education and a dying person having access to hospice care at home or in a hospice helping them to die with dignity. I can’t always be the person who gives that immediate help but I can try in some way to help.
What better way to help than to use a fear to fulfill the needs of a charity or another person?
at 12.40 on 21st September I will face and confront my fear of heights along with my friends Sally and Elinor and thier friends Connie, Carrie and Anne . As a team we will climb the 100 foot Pyramid stage in Glastonbury via ladders(a challenge in itself) and then free fall abseil 100 feet . No mean feat as I suffer from Menieres, a condition that causes me to become dizzy to the point of falling over, Sally has difficulty in walking and add to that three of us will be 50+ by then. This will be a real challenge for me on several levels. Firstly my menieres condition has stopped me from doing many things for the last few years, not because I can’t do them but because I have been afraid to “live” and used this as an excuse. Secondly, I have a real fear of being on anything at height that isn’t completely stable so climbing that ladder is going to be a bit hairy. Thirdly, I am so unfit it is untrue. Hmm, note to self – exercise those arms! Last but certainly not least, I am not good with meeting new people. Not many people realise this as I manage to cover it up quite well but I am really quite shy. Meeting people in a social setting is not so bad because I can escape easily. Meeting 3 new people and spending a whole weekend with them whilst all being nervous of activity we are about to undertake brings my fear to a whole new level.
Life is about facing your fears though, without doing so I will never move forward.
Most importantly, by doing this we will be helping a small uk based fantastic charity SOS AFRICA to ensure that they can continue to support young Africans to gain an education by providing schooling, transport to school and other things that we take for granted in the UK. I am grateful for the education I received. I recognise how lucky I was to receive a basic education. Partly because I have spent many years being envious of my friends who were supported and able to go onto university, an option that wasn’t available to me at the time. I am over that envy now as I recognise that there have been many points in my life that I could have taken up that option. I chose not to, either consciously or subconsciously, and I am happy with the person that I have become without that formal education. Some people around the world are never in a position to make those choices as they get older and this is because they have never had the opportunity to have the basic education that we, in the West, take for granted and see as a right not a privelege
If you are grateful too and you want to help another young person to have the same opportunities then please, please consider sponsoring us. We are aiming to raise £1200 as a team by the beginning of September. This would cover the costs of a complete education and care of two children for one year. SOS does not use any donation to pay for admin, all of this is covered by gift aid so please do tick the gift aid box.
To give you an idea of what the funding goes to you can check out the SOS Africa website but here is an idea of what sponsorship by direct debit provides
£2 donation ($4) per month – To cover a year’s supply of stationary and clothing for 1 African child.
£8 donation ($13) per month – To cover 6 months worth of aftercare support for 1 African child.
£20 donation ($32) per month – To cover a year’s worth of tuiton fees for 1 African child.
£50 donation ($82) per month – To cover the complete education and care of 1 African child for a year.
We are not asking for you to commit to a year long subscription but simply a one off sponsorship to support us in our endeavour to overcome our fears whilst helping to raise the funding and the profile for such a small charity. If you want to help then you can do so on our Pyramid Angels Just Giving Pages.
you can also text your donation to ANGL56 £3 to 70070 to donate £3 to support us. Alternatively you can direct message me and we can arrange alternative ways to donate.
You can change the amount if you wish.
I am now trying to come up with other fundraising ideas such as on line auctions, swish parties and car boot sales. If you have any fun ideas then I would love to hear them.
Thank you x