Future Plans.

Sorry for the delay in posting!

So... on the 12th/13th November, my group went on a training expedition to Cannock in Derbyshire to prepare for Kenya. We did some team building exercises, learnt how to put up a tent, cook on a trangia, how not to get malaria, and what to do if someone breaks their ankle. All in all it was a pretty good weekend, our team gelled together really well, and even if our feet and shoulders did hurt after a while, we all really enjoyed it.

As for fundraising, since we've got back to school we have been on the cake stalls again, more parent's evenings and presentations evenings to come, so that's good. We normally get between £10 and £20 a night, but of course we have to factor in the costs of the raw ingredients.

Coming up on the 22nd December we are doing some bag-packing at the Morrisons in Spalding, so if you are in the area, please come along and support, it would be most welcome!! Hopefully, because it is Christmas soon :) we will get lots of custom.

After that, in January, we will be organizing an African evening, with authentic Kenyan food, and entertainment. It is shaping up to be a pretty good evening, I am in charge of spreading the word, so I will put up more details when I know about them.

And in the really distant future I have a fun run in March, which will be sponsored.

I have my dates for flying, which is the 15th July, and we will get back on the 14th August.

Thank you for your support!

Keziah.

Update On The Fundraising.

In total, from the profits from Oh! What A Lovely War and from a cake stall that we did on Tuesday evening at school, I've raised another £30.

However, I have also raised some larger sums! Over the summer I offered to do some gardening for some family and friends. It was rather hard work, but I did enjoy it. I spent a week overall helping out, and I managed to get £100 for my efforts towards World Challenge!

But I can top this even still! I sent a letter to my local Masonic Lodge, and they agreed to give me £344. This was greatly appreciated. They came to the school to present the cheque to me, and we even got an article in the local newspaper about it.

As school has once again started, me and my small group will be doing lots of baking for all the after school events that go on.

I shall also be doing some of the events that World Challenge organize themselves, I'm not sure whether to do the Fun Run or the Abseil though :)

In addition to fundraising, on the 12th/13th November, we shall be going on a practice expedition to the Peak District, to learn more about how to set up a tent, hiking, cooking outside, and teamwork. It seems as if it will be pretty cold, but it gets very cold up Mount Kenya, so we will all be grateful for the experience... honest.

So that's it for now, I will be updating more regularly now that school has started.

Keziah

Cake Stall

This week my school has put on a performance of Oh! What A Lovely War, which summarizes and comments on the story of World War I using popular songs of the time, many of which were parodies of older popular songs and is based on the work of Alan Clark when he spoke of lions led by donkeys, in reference to the brave soldiers being led by men who couldn't lead a war.


My World Challenge group were able to secure the post of refreshment sellers, and so there was a frenzy of baking as we each had to make around 70 cakes to ensure that all the guests could have one over the three nights. 


We are also holding a raffle which will be drawn later tonight, many of the prizes have been donated by local businesses, including the Oasis Beauty Spa and Waitrose.


As well as this, I will be attending another car boot sale on the 23rd July, which will hopefully raise some more money to enable me to go to Kenya.


As you will probably have seen on the news about the drought going on in Kenya, I know that I won't be going for another year, but its things like that which make me even more determined to raise the money to be able to go out there and actually put people's money to a good use in a practical way, rather than donations that seem to vanish in the bureaucracy. 


Thank you for your support.


Keziah

Car Boot Sale.

Last Sunday I did my first car boot sale :) It was pretty small, with only two other cars and some tables in the village hall. Even with this, and the fact the weather was being very temperamental, I still managed to raise another £30 towards the Kenya Fund.

I will hopefully be doing some more carbooting soon, even though for some of them I will have to get up at 4:30 am :( Well, it shows dedication I suppose!

It will also be good practice for when we go up Mount Kenya. As on the third night we will get up at 2:30 (ish) am to hike to the top in time for the sunrise, which is meant to be amazing. Then we will go back down the mountain to our camp for breakfast, then spend the next couple of days getting back to the base to then go to the school project.

Keziah

Lots More Money :)

So I now have a lot more money in the Kenya Fund thanks to a lot of different people!

Firstly I would say thank you to Masonic Lodge of Peterborough for donating £344 towards Kenya and Tanzania! It is really much appreciated. When I received this cheque, the local newspaper also got involved, so an awesome photo with me, the leader of the expedition, my headteacher, my dad and the representative from the Masons.

Also, big thanks to Julia Cozens for donating £20 :) thank you very much!!

So, for the future I have lots and lots of events coming up at school which we will hopefully be doing the refreshments for, including concerts, new intake evenings, art exhibitions and productions.

As well as this, me and some friends are planning to do a sponsored bike ride from Lincoln to Boston (which is thankfully down hill!). At the moment we aren't entirely sure on the dates, but I know I definitely need to do some more training. But it will all be part of the get Keziah fit enough to go to Kenya as well as raise the money to get her there...

Thanks again to all donating people :)

The Royal Wedding.

I'm sure nobody missed the hype surrounding last Friday and the Royal Wedding, with the parties and celebrations up and down the country.

In Frampton, they held a Royal Wedding Party at their local church, with over 70 people in attendance. This was run by a local restaurant The Samphire at Frampton, and I, along with two friends, were the waitresses for the day.

We did this in order to raise funds for the expedition, and we did this through a tip jar placed near the entrance. Thanks to the generosity of the local people, we managed to raise £73.82 towards the expedition costs, so I would like to say a huge thankyou to them. Also thankyou to Hermione and Chris who run the The Samphire for allowing us to help out.

More Money Into The Fund.

Well, it has been a week since I last posted, and since then I have been given another £40 from Yvonne and John Streeter and Rebecca Richardson, so thank you to them.

I have also organised a car-boot sale for the 22nd May in order to raise more money, should be good, unfortunately will have to get up pretty early.

I thought that I had better give you some idea of what exactly I will be doing whilst in Kenya, basically, my trip consists of 3 days of acclimatisation in Tanzania, followed by a 5 day trek up Mount Kenya, then the week long school project and finally some (we feel hard earned) rest and relaxation!

We will have to budget in food costs, water, accommodation, transport and all other costs daily, so this will be good practice for later on in life.

I am definitely looking forward to it at the moment, even though I am slightly apprehensive about the lions and other rather large animals...

Keziah

Fund-raising so far.

Since paying the original £100 deposit in January, I have been actively fundraising. I have been able to raise a further £220 towards the final total. This is partly due to a large number of refreshment stands that my team mates and I held at school events, which raised £70 for each of us. I have also contributed £100 from my own savings towards the expedition.

As well as these, I would like to say a huge thank you to Ted Fitzgerald and his colleagues who contributed £50 towards the trip, it is greatly appreciated.

I now have to raise around £1,680 to pay for the rest of the trip. We have organised more refreshment stands, as well as sponsored events, and we will be selling programmes at local events to raise money.

Introduction to World Challenge.

During the summer of 2012, as part of World Challenge, I am preparing to take part in a 4-week educational expedition to Kenya and Tanzania which will involve a challenging 7 day trek and work with the local community to help build or renovate a school and complete other projects to benefit that community.

 In 2003, primary education was made free to children in Kenya. Despite this the schools in many rural areas of the country still struggle for adequate buildings and equipment. This puts a huge strain on the quality and standard of education that the children receive. Our expedition aims to help by supporting a school building project thus aiding it and its community to have better facilities for learning in. We hope to change some lives for the better.

This is not an average school trip and is certainly not a holiday. It is a challenging expedition that will significantly benefit the local community and will teach the team valuable life skills such as leadership, communication and team working.

With your help we can make a difference to these children’s lives, giving them the chance of good education.

We each have the task of raising £2,000 to fund our place in the expedition. We have organized various events such as sponsored bike rides, refreshments stands and bag packing services for customers at local supermarkets. In addition we are planning other fund raising activities over the coming months.

Therefore my team and I are requesting sponsorship to enable us to go on this expedition and in doing so help the Kenyan community. I would be grateful for any assistance, be it sponsorship, fundraising events or professional advice.

With your help we can make a difference.