'So tell me about this seed' I hear you say. Well, my children go to a group in Charlbury called RAD, it's a group set up by another home educating mum in a church.
The children just go along for an hour and a half once a week and during that time they do some amazing things and have formed some great friendships. The most recent thing they have been enthused about is the charity Water Aid.
In this country we are fortunate enough to have clean water on tap and at all times. A friend of mine told me of an experience that he had recently where he was given the opportunity to drink a glass of water that had been taken directly from a septic tank. Of course it had be filtered thoroughly before he consumed it and the water was clear and clean - he also lived to tell the tale thankfully!
In many countries of the world the scenario would be the same except the water wouldn't be filtered and it certainly wouldn't be clean and clear. I cannot even begin to imagine what that would be like.
People in these areas have little choice. Making the decision to drink contaminated water as a basic fundamental need knowing that you risk your life by doing so doesn't even register in my mind. Many children die every day as a result.
Water Aid is a charity set up to raise awareness and provide help in countries that don't have regular access to clean water.
Since hearing of this charity through RAD club, my children have been inspired to raise money to help and to make a difference to the lives of others.
Initially I said they could have all the copper coins they could find in the house (they found over £6 worth!!), then they began suggesting ways they could earn money. Miss P took to washing the car and Small Boy washed and re-washed the dishes. Then I got involved and just thought I'd take a look at the Water Aid website HERE......this is actually a very worth while cause. Before I knew it I am also involved and wanting to help. It suddenly dawned on me that we could run a coffee morning. Location options began whizzing around in my head and of course the logistics of such an event.
I mentioned my idea to said friend who lives in Charlbury and there my seed was planted and began to germinate with rapid speed.
The idea spread quickly, posters were created, plans were made and the enthusiasm multiplied.
Well what an exciting morning we had!!!
The enthusiasm bubbled from the beginning. Many very excited children turned up to give a hand.
We made a quick transformation of my friends school room into our 'pop up cafe', home made cakes arrived and voila! All ready to begin.
We debated what to charge. From experience it seems that if you set a baseline amount people tend to donate that and then add more, especially if the funds are heading for charity. People can be incredibly generous given the opportunity.
**For the record, my contributions of cakes went rather fashionably, disastrously, dreadfully, WRONG!!! After the first casualty stuck fast to the baking trays and ended up as a large pile of enormous cake crumbs, I tried two further cakes attempting against my will to remain faithful to the recipe but the same thing happened again and again. I did sort of manage to reconstruct one darling orange sponge cake and disguise the errors of my ways with a think splodge of tasty icing. Rather a poor show for someone who bakes all the time. perhaps on this occasion my efforts were to be focused elsewhere!!
All was not wasted as we've enjoyed two portions each of tasty coffee and walnut sponge with custard for desert for the past two days and it's looking like there's enough for tomorrow too :-)
Keep calm indeed!
At 10 am we had no customers. For a very brief moment I did wonder if our efforts had been wasted, then slowly folk began to drift in. We sent some boys off down to stand outside the local Coop to encourage people to call by. They came back with £7....didn't dare ask what they said to people! At one point we had all twelve seats in our 'pop up cafe' filled with further people standing AND three cars on the drive requiring washing. Car washing was another way we thought we could make a bob or two and it was pretty popular decision to make and raked in a great deal of extra booty.
Collectively we raised about £170, not bad for two hours work!
Many children got very wet in the process. Glad we didn't have folk seated outside!
The power of people hey, all it takes is one little seed :-)
How fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI support Water Aid too, I make regular donations and have a Coop Charity Credit Card which gives a donation each time I use it and a divi once a year.