Dear Friends

Thank you so much for coming to this page. Your contribution is very welcome. Please don't forget to add gift aid. You can find out everything you nee to know about the cause below.

Its quick and easy to give, and I promise it makes a real difference to the lives of the boys and girls at New Generation.

Love, James

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity. Thank you so  much. I hope you feel you can contribute. Every donation helps no matter how small.

Our ride is to raise funds for the NEW GENERATION project in Burundi (through Street Action). This is an initiative to provide very concrete support for some of the most disadvantaged young people through building a safe settlement and community for street children. You can find out more here:

http://newgenerationburundi.org/about/ 

This is the third ride I've participated in and I'm proud to say the ride has raised a significant amount of money to help this very worthy case over the years. I hope we can extend that record this year.

Even though the detailed issues change from year to year, we seek to build upon and consolidate the work of previous years.

Things politically in Burundi are still difficult (since the refusal of the president to relinquish power in April 2015 as the constitution required) with relative calm underpinned by the threat of political and social upheaval at any point. Against this backdrop, the children at New Generation continue to demonstrate the reality of trying to live peacefully as a community.

The reality of the situation in the country is that prices are rising (especially for food) and nothing can be taken for granted, including whether schools will be open one day to the next. So running the project is hard and life is unpredictable for the children and adults at New Generation. Even physically changing money from New Generation’s US$ account to local Burundian francs is getting more and more costly as the government continues to exert more control on money exchange rates.

The children cared for by New Generation continue to come to the Bujumbura centre on a daily basis to receive food, take part in activities and be supported through their schooling. New short term accommodation blocks have been built and a new house has been rented to provide longer term support for some of the girls who are now looked after by New Generation (in addition to the existing boys). As an organisation that has worked with street children for many years, they know how much this crisis is affecting children in general and street children in particular. When everybody else is running back to their homes for shelter and protection from bullets, street children have no safe place to run to. They get caught up in clashes between the police and the protesters and struggle to find something to eat as most shops are closed and people have no money to give away.

So alongside providing for the physical needs of the children, New Generation has been promoting active non-violence among the youth in Burundi. Through different meetings and activities (often involving football), they have been able to speak to young people from different provinces, ethnic groups and political movements about healing and reconciliation.

Street Action are currently working alongside other partners to try to secure the long term security of the New Generation site in Bujumbura. Against this broader aim, money raised from the SCCC this year will go to:

1. Expanded Outreach Programme - money will be used to pay for staff (two former street children), food and support for the expanding street outreach program at New Generation.

2. New Boy’s Accommodation - money will be provided to cover the running costs of a new boys house (accommodation for additional six boys) for the next year (including rent, staffing, beds, food and other ongoing costs).

3. Schooling - a small amount of money raised will be used to fund the Back to School programme this month (September) - including uniforms, books and new shoes for the 65 New Generation children who will soon be enrolling in the new academic year.

4. Ongoing funds - any remaining money will be used to contribute to the core running costs at New Generation for the next year. This underpins all the work they do, including providing food, accommodation, schooling, counselling support and leadership training to over 100 children each month.

They are so grateful to all our supporters who continue to support them, not least providing food, shelter and access to schooling for these children through these politically and socially tough times.