In July, I'm travelling to Kenya with REGENERATE.  There will be 8 teenagers from the Roehampton Estate in London, three members of staff, two volunteers and my Mum.  We're going to work in the slums of Nakuru and Nairobi for a week, getting involved in feeding projects and building projects with the street kids and youth projects with the local orphanage.  

All the teenagers have earnt their place on the trip by being actively involved in REGENERATE's mentoring projects.  We are all aged between 13 and 19.  

I don't actually qualify in the sense that I don't live on the estate and I'm not under-privileged.  However, I'm trying to bridge the gap that has arisen with the "us and them" culture in our society.  I go to a private school and am wary of the hooded kids on the estate and they think I'm some stuck-up rich kid who's a good target.  The Roehampton Estate is on our conscience everytime we go to school and everytime we leave.  

Many of these kids have no future.  They have no hopes, no prospects and no aspirations.  They believe that the only way forward is to get involved in the local gang, in fact that is the only thing they aspire to do.  They ultimately end up becoming involved in drugs, knife and gun crimes.  I know one boy who is only 10 years old and he's already being groomed by the drug dealers.  Without REGENERATE mentoring him, he will be in prison by the time he's 16.

REGENERATE run football clubs and dance clubs, it has a double-decker bus which acts as a mobile youth club (the council have closed down all the youth clubs on the estate) and  they try to find inspirational speakers to come along to their mentoring evenings in order to make a difference. REGENERATE also run the Juice Bar, which is a drop-in centre on the estate where the kids can come and hang out together in a safe, positive environment.  

My parents are paying for my trip but each teenager going has to raise some money themselves if they want to participate.  A few of the teenagers are struggling to do this, so, as I don't need to raise the funds for myself, I want to help them raise the funds they need and any extra money raised can go towards funding the Bus Project which runs out of funding in a month!

Please help me do this by donating as much as you possibly can.  

I can't promise to make a difference but I can promise to try!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page - Matt

 

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