Last month, January, I received an unexpected Pay Pal donation of £100 from John Neighbour who is the son of John neighbour who sponsors two of our children in South Africa for their educational needs.
Also in January i received a £60 donation from Michael Crompton who is a new child sponsor.
My grateful thanks got to John and Michael. We need all the support we can get and their money help the needs of the children enormously..
Today 17th January 2012 I have just received a cheque for £200. My next door neighbour and fellow trustee Debbie Pipe and her friend Anita held a New Year's Eve dance down in St Anne's church hall.
Half of the £400 profit came to my charity one Life and half has gone to Haven House, a very worthwhile charity.
My grateful thanks got to Debbie and Anita who for the last few years have held this New Year's Eve dance and donated half of the profits to One Life.
At last after seven long months the computer in South Africa, for my contact with Nancy and Khanya, is up and running with just one minor problem, the scanner is playing up but hopefully will be sorted out today, January 15th.
Khanya is very excited to have this contact again and so am I as I have been waiting for such a long time for receipts, photos , information and queries.
The people who sponsor the children have been really patient so hopefully now I can catch up with the backlog of paperwork and photos needed and bring the charity up to date.
Today, 11th January 2012, my fellow trustee, Jean Spinks, gave me £100 for One life which she raised by selling her hand made greeting cards.
We so badly need donations at the moment so I am very grateful to Jean for all her hard work and support.
The Sponsored Walk held on Saturday 17th September has raised approx £2,995, a wonderful amount.
A good half of that amount was raised by a Dr and Mrs Patel of Sidcup Kent and I am very grateful to them for so enthusiastically and caringly collecting such an amazing amount of money for One Life.
Their son, Dr Sanjay Patel and his wife Samantha were in South Africa at the same time as myself a couple of years ago and they met Nancy and Khanya and the children of the township who One Life supports.
They know very well of the difficult lives the children and their carers lead and they are in full support of the work which Nancy and Khanya do.
On Saturday evening, October 15th the Auction/Pledges/ Supper/Fund Raise event was held in St Anne's church hall.
The evening was wonderful and finished around 10-30pm due to the time it took to work through all the many pledges and goods received in order to make this such a successful event.
Approx £2,000 was raised and this is to be shared between St Anne's parish Church and my charity One Life.
I am very grateful to all who took part in supporting this event and particularly to the organisers and the helpers who through their hard work made this such an enjoyable and worthwhile evening.
On Saturday, 15th October, a Charity/Pledge Auction will be held in St Anne's Church hall. Entry is £10 per head and includes a hot supper. A raffle will also be held.
You are requested to bring along goods in great order to auction or something new to raffle.
The evening should draw to a close around 9-30pm.
On Saturday, 15the October, a Charity/Pledge Auction will be held in St Anne's Church hall. Entry is £10 per head and includes a hot supper. A raffle will also be held.
You are requested to bring along goods in great order to auction or something new to raffle.
The evening should draw to a close around 9-30pm.
I am in constant contact with Khanya (Nancy's daughter). Yesterday 21st September Nancy went for the results of a biopsy on her spine, where the tumour was.
At the moment she is clear of the cancer but is suffering from chronic kidney failure, the result of diabetes. She may have to go on dialysis in the near future. Also, because of pressure on her spinal discs, for the present moment, she is still in a wheelchair but hopefully this is not a permanent situation.,
Nancy is now on insulin instead of just tablets and for the first time in a long time her sugar levels have settled down. Nevertheless she is not a well lady and we need to keep her in our thoughts and prayers.
The sponsored walk held last Saturday September 17th went well. The weather was very kind to us and we managed to have a lunch break sitting in deckchairs in the sun.
The donations always take a while to be collected up and sent to me but I did have a phone call from a Mr Patel and his wife who joined the walk, to say that already he had collected £1,000 and it is possible that he may collect as much as £500 more.
This was such a wonderful surprise and filled me with gratitude as right now the needs in Africa are many especially funding for food and also I wanted to send funding again this year for Nancy to hold a small Christmas party for the children. They get so little that this, for them, is the highlight of the year.
Also since the rand to pound exchange has dropped so much, each year there is not enough money to buy the school stationary which the children need. I try and send extra to cover this but this year I am short of funding but now, thanks to Mr and Mrs Patel and the generosity of the people who have sponsored them I will be able to provide the money.
I am very grateful to all the new people who joined us on the walk this year and to the people who continue to do so year after year.
