For the second year running, I'm lucky enough to be part of a team heading to Ethiopia in November, where we will be delivering an arts and sports programme for kids who have ended up on the streets. You can find out more about the work of Retrak at www.retrak.org - please do have a look. The team have to cover all costs of the trip and also raise enough to ensure our contribution is sustained when we leave. As if that wasn't enough, there is the personal challenge of entering the Great Ethiopia Run with the kids - 10K, at altitude, with 35,000 people from one of the greatest running countries in the world.....and I hate running!

If you have supported my previous fundraising events, I hope you will be able to do so again. This time, I will be concentrating more on delivering events and services than doing sponsored tasks.

If you have any ideas or events where you may be able to fundraise for me, please do get in touch.

Kate

 

Retrak - No Child Forced to Live on the Streets

Last year Amira spent 270 days sleeping on the streets, alone.

Children too young to be on their own are being forced to live on the streets because of a lack of parental care, violent conflict, extreme poverty, abuse and neglect.  They have nowhere else to go.  Life on the streets of Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya is very dangerous, particularly at night.  Many children choose to sleep in the relative safety of the drains and sewers under the slums of Africa’s major cities.

On the streets these young, homeless children are exposed to violence, abuse, hunger, cold, illness and disease.  They are denied their basic human rights; their right to be protected; to access health care; to a roof over their heads; to go to school; and their right to life. As their lives are consumed by the street they are robbed of their innocence and their childhood.

These children have been forced onto the streets by circumstances beyond their control, they do not have a choice but you do.

Since 1994 Retrak has helped thousands of children on Africa's streets, one child at a time, find a real alternative to life on the street. These are the lucky ones who are now protected, loved and supported, and have access to medical care and school. In many cases they have been helped to return to their family or find an alternative home they can call their own. They now have a much brighter future ahead of them.

We believe that every street child deserves the same opportunities and are working towards a world where ZERO children are forced to live on the streets. We know this will not happen overnight but every child we help takes us one step closer to this critical goal. By donating to Retrak you will help us to reach many more street children and their families in Africa. The more you give the more children we can help.

 

 

 

 

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