Wednesday, 20 June 2012

25 Days To Go!!!

Okay, so I have now raised all the money that I need to have, I have had all the vaccinations (there were 8 of them!!) and I'm am just applying for my 2nd visa into Kenya, already have my Tanzania one.

We have our plans for build-up day, and our flight routes in and out have been confirmed :)

So basically we fly out on the 15th June to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, then we travel to the Southern Pares for a 4 day acclimatisation trek, after completing this we will then travel to our project site. Here we will have a range of choices: constructing new classrooms; renovating old ones; building a new kitchen; making new toilets; putting fencing up and creating a level path leading to the school.

The project phase will last for a week, and then after that we will go on a days safari to experience some of the local wildlife and then we will travel up to Kenya. Once there, we will start to the Mt Kenya Trek, having first planted trees at the base of the mountain as part of a conservation and reforestation project that they have started.

We will then have some relaxation time in which we will go white water rafting! Then it is time to travel to Nairobi and catch the flight back to Heathrow at some early time in 14th August.

That is our intenaray for the month, I hope we will get a lot out of it, and thanks for putting up with the long delays in this blog update!

I will be posting photos of my trip when I get back from Africa :)

Thanks, Keziah

Saturday, 14 January 2012

Bag Packing.

So we did the bag pack and all together we raised £1400 that day, and because I did the full twelve hours my share of the money was £107, which is very good!

We have also done another cake stall at school, which was really profitable, raising me £20.87.

In addition to this, one of the people at my corp, Olive Foggin, has donated £50 towards my fundraising, which is greatly appreciated.

Coming up we have the African Evening, for which we have set a date in mid-March to allow for exams and other commitments, its shaping up to be a really good evening, and I will post more when I know more!

Keziah.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

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.

Thursday, 22 September 2011

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

Friday, 15 July 2011

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

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

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

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

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 :)