East African Playgrounds

redchestnut56

Hi,
I am currently raising money for East African Playgrounds (https://www.justgiving.com/KatieSmith-Uganda) , a recently set up charity that helps to support children in East Africa. They provide a safe place for children to grow up while also setting up arts, reading and sports groups in the local communities. Although a playground won't save a life, it's a huge thing for the children, and makes a huge impact on their lives, you can see from the photographs on the website, how much its appreciated: http://www.eastafricanplaygrounds.org/

Each playground costs around £6000 to build, and as one of 10 volunteers for a build in Uganda in June my aim is to raise £600. I have currently raised around £450, but I'm sortof stuck for ideas now.. I've done all the obvious; bake sale, bucket shakes, event night. I just wondered whether anyone had any advice on other ways to raise the money or would be kind enough to sponsor me?

Just adding; I tried to do a raffle, but couldn't find many shops that would be willing to donate. So if you have any ideas of places I could ask, that would be massively helpful too

Thank you xx

brooke3

That sounds like a really great idea getting ten people to raise £600 each.

One thing that has worked for me in the past is asking local company's to donate some money towards it (I've never had any luck with big company's but some smaller businesses have been willing to donate small amounts or put a bucket in their shop).

I might be willing to support the charity but I like to have more details. Is the £600 going on building the school or is it going on you flying out there and your expenses? I will read up on the website and think about donating

pineapple

brooke3 wrote: »

That sounds like a really great idea getting ten people to raise £600 each.

In theory. But this is one of the set ups which expect the volunteer to raise money, pay their own expenses and flights. There is an increasing number of outfits in the UK today which expect volunteers to raise the cash and pay their own way. Great business model - wish I had thought of it!
Plus though there are several aspects to this project, I think there are higher priorities. I lived and worked (for a charity) in Uganda. The one thing that Ugandan kids have plenty of is play space. What they so often don't have is:
Easy access to fresh clean water
Easy access to education (because the parents can't afford it or because the kid has to work or help out at home)
Easy access to affordable health care.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2009/sep/11/health-news
Compare this sort of operation to VSO which pays expenses and whose volunteers spend long enough in the country to understand the culture. There again it's no longer enough to be white and well meaning. They expect their volunteers to have needed skills and not to be doing something which could be done by a local.

brooke3

I think it's better for volunteers to pay their own way. When you're looking at highly trained professionals who have skills to share with people in developing countries that's one thing but I think it's terrible for a charity to pay for people to go out to other countries to do jobs that locals could do. I would rather they created employment for people in these countries. Going to a developing country is a great experience for us in developed countries and an experience I think we should pay for if we want it.

I agree that there are higher priorities and you need to provide basic things like food, shelter, water and medical care but play is important for children and my understanding was that there's an educational element to the project. But if you're saying they already have that then I guess perhaps there are better charities for that country and other countries that need this kind of project more.