This page is designed to give you information about the charities we meet along our journey.
We'll include ways to donate but our main focus is to provide a platform for those who are selflessly giving time, money and resources to help the most in need.
Harambee for Kenya is a small charity based in Kenya with the needs of street boys at the heart of its mission. 'Harambee' is Swahili for 'all pull together' and the charity was established by Lesley and Roger Dann, two UK citizens who observed an obvious need to help the many street boys in Kenya. These boys are vulnerable and often come from broken homes or have been orphaned at a young age. The street life really isn't somewhere a young boy can grow and flourish, instead Harambee for Kenya invite them to come and live in their two safe houses, one in a place called Meru and one in Kisii. Ben and I were situated in the safe house in Kisii and spent 10 days getting to know the 18 boys who have been 'saved' by the charity. These boys who used to live out of bins and with no place to call home now live in a secure compound with access to clean water, homecooked meals, a warm bed, access to schooling and most importantly, family.
During our stay Ben and I did a little decorating and added a splash of colour to some lockers and door frames, but their need is greater than a little DIY from overseas visitors. Many of these boys are clothed and fed by the generosity and donations of those back in the UK, with a select few even having private sponsorship allowing them to access the best education available. To see how far the love and hard work of a small team can go is inspiring, and to hear first hand that these boys are now thriving and off the street for good is delightful.
World Shine Ministries is a Ugandan based charity with branches of support in the UK & USA. First introduced to us by our church at home, Tonbridge Baptist Church (TBC), Ben journeyed with the debut mission trip back in 2014. The idea - to take a team of 20 odd people from home and do whatever was necessary to 'reach, raise and release' the children of World Shine Primary School in Rwentobo. From that initial trip until now the lives of the children and the community of Rwentobo have not only been enriched but also the many individuals who have annually journeyed out and given 2 weeks of their time to this wonderful charity.
First established by Medad Birungi and his wife Connie, World Shine now offers a child-sponsorship programme and encourages all those disadvantaged children under their care that with God by your side anything is achievable. Ben & I joined the third annual mission trip from TBC to Rwentobo and were truly blessed to be pushed out of our comfort zone on more than one occasion. Thanks to some rather dodgy elections the school was closed during our stay (an unforeseen curve ball), however this did enable us to get stuck in to projects, like the painting of baby class, that would have proved difficult with children around. World Shine, with the support of TBC & the US team, are slowly but surely getting hold of the struggles in Rwentobo, and in turn children's lives are being changed for the better.
During our stay Ben and I did a little decorating and added a splash of colour to some lockers and door frames, but their need is greater than a little DIY from overseas visitors. Many of these boys are clothed and fed by the generosity and donations of those back in the UK, with a select few even having private sponsorship allowing them to access the best education available. To see how far the love and hard work of a small team can go is inspiring, and to hear first hand that these boys are now thriving and off the street for good is delightful.
First established by Medad Birungi and his wife Connie, World Shine now offers a child-sponsorship programme and encourages all those disadvantaged children under their care that with God by your side anything is achievable. Ben & I joined the third annual mission trip from TBC to Rwentobo and were truly blessed to be pushed out of our comfort zone on more than one occasion. Thanks to some rather dodgy elections the school was closed during our stay (an unforeseen curve ball), however this did enable us to get stuck in to projects, like the painting of baby class, that would have proved difficult with children around. World Shine, with the support of TBC & the US team, are slowly but surely getting hold of the struggles in Rwentobo, and in turn children's lives are being changed for the better.
Creating Better Futures (CBF) is a UK charity entirely run by volunteers in the UK and in Zimbabwe. They commit to the idea that education is the key to overcoming poverty and in doing so strive to secure sponsorship for vulnerable children and orphans in Zim. CBF, based in my university town of Reading, was founded by Dorothy Dix who left Zimbabwe at 16 to study in Norway before attending the University of Reading. Now with the support of her family, Dorothy successfully helps those who are most vulnerable access education at 3 schools across Zimbabwe. Ben and I spent a month under the incredible hospitality of Dorothy's mother and younger brother, Beverly and Lawrence. We were delighted to be of use to CBF whilst in Zim and most of our time was spent visiting the schools to profile the children. CBF relies on vulnerable children being sponsored so whilst we were in Zimbabwe we took the opportunity to meet most of the children listed as 'in need' and most importantly to understand who they were and what they overcome every day. Ben and I are extremely grateful to all at CBF for giving us this opportunity and allowing us to spend time with the children. If you've felt moved at all to support one of these children do follow the link below - I can speak on behalf of the kids and their families - you can't understand how much of a difference you'll make.
Madwaleni Church - unlike our other charities this isn't officially a 'charity'. Instead it is a M&B thought up fundraising project, established to help rebuild Madwaleni Church. Ben & I accompanied Dylan (Ben's cousin-in-law and local Minister) on a visit to Madwaleni, a rural Zulu church located 20 minutes outside of Mtubatuba, South Africa. The church is just one of the 7 under the ministry of Dylan and is by far the poorest and most in need. On our visit we saw the recent devastation that poor building and bad weather has left the church in. Although part of the structure remains, the tin roof, rotten beams and cracked floor make for an extremely unsafe and unusable church. We were all to aware that it wasn't the UK and that there will be no health and safety officer taping off the area. Instead the reality is that those who love their church will still go and worship, therefore unless work is done we are still fearful of lives being lost.
Just before Christmas Ben and I felt obliged to help those who already had so little. So we set up a 'go fund me' page and appealed to anyone who could help to donate towards the rebuilding of the church. To date we have raised a fantastic £205 (or 4,850 rand!) and work will shortly start - we don't know yet how far this money will go but we feel blessed to have been a part of this. Of course we still welcome donations and would be over the moon if you could support our fundraising venture.
LIV Village is a charity but most of all it's a village just north of Durban, a supportive community where orphaned and vulnerable children from the local township have come and been placed in a family environment with a trained foster mother to love them, a school to educate them, and where all their physical needs are met.
The village was a result of God working through Tich Smith, and his wife Joan, who instead of enjoying a lovely retirement have uprooted and given their all to establishing this village on the top of a hill. They have gained the support of politicians, businesses and South African celebrities - resulting in huge financial donations and publicity.
Ben and I first heard about this fantastic project when on our annual youth camp at Soul Survivor, Somerset back in August. Tich and Joan had flown over to inspire thousands of young people to come and volunteer at the village. We instantly knew we wanted to find out more about the project and spoke to Joan about the possibility of visiting the village.
When staying with Ben's Uncle & Auntie in Durban we took a day trip to LIV to meet the team and have a tour of the village. No promotional video could prepare us for how amazing the transformation of the old farm land is. The facilities and infrastructure that have been established and it was wonderful to see, even briefly, how beneficial this will be for the children living on site. However, this is only the beginning for them, one village is not enough, and Tich dreams of rolling these safe haven's all around the country.
Hillsong Africa Foundation is a non-profit organisation that has derived from the Hillsong Church n Cape Town, South Africa. It all started with a group of volunteers wanting to help the poorest in their community by providing basic needs. Over the years the foundation has expanded and now the projects includes feeding programs, care for orphaned children, disaster relief, women's shelters and many more!
When Ben and I spent time with the foundation we accompanied the weekly trips to schools in two different townships, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain. When visiting the Tembaletu School in Gugulethu we witnessed how the foundation is uplifting the lives of many physically disabled children. Hillsong House, a 32 bed dormitory, was gifted to the school by HAF to provide a safe and secure home for the most high risk children. We were blessed to join the team for their regular bible-based after school programme, it was utterly delightful to see how positive and focused these heavily afflicted children are. In a society where disability is hugely stigmatised it was so refreshing to see how HAF has enabled the children to focus on their school work, having fun and fellowship together.
Ben and I joined the group on their Mitchells Plain after school programme. The team go to play games, share a biblical message and pray for the local children. Imagine a dusty playground, high winds and a bunch of rowdy kids and that's the challenge the team have, HOWEVER we were blown away by the determination of the volunteers who go week in, week out to deliver the good news to these desperate children. A major eye opener for us was when we were to hand out peanut butter & jam sandwiches, the sweetest, most calm children during playtime would change character as soon as food was bought in to the equation. That's when it hit home, we could talk and sing and talk about God's grace and his love for them but at the end of the day these children are hungry and HAF are feeding them. Our prayer is that one day Hillsong Africa will see the results of the foundation feeding the children, both physically and spiritually.
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