Month: November 2015

Blame my wife for the pun.  But it did make me smile!

First stop London, then the long trip to Delhi.  By the time I’m back home in just over a week I’m sure I will have seen a lot and learnt a lot.

Let’s go!

What a lovely coincidence in timing. While I’m busy preparing for my trip with Save the Children, my daughter Caroline has been very busy preparing her contribution for the Children 1st Touch of Tartan Ball in Aberdeen, which takes place tonight. Children 1st is Scotland’s national children’s charity and the ball is a major fundraising event for them. Caroline has designed christmas cards which will be given out at the ball, and which she hopes will help the overall fundraising effort for the charity. You can see her lovely designs on both her own website and that of Children 1st.

Today I start my journey travelling to London ahead of the long flight to India tomorrow. As the French say, “Je suis excité comme une puce!”

I’m sure you can imagine why I would jump at the chance to go to India and learn more about the Save the Children projects there. I support Save the Children because I agree with their goals and love the way they talk about what they’re trying to do. But are they effective? This is a rare opportunity to see what an impact they have and to see how effectively they are using our donations.

But why would Save the Children want to do this? All of the team members are long time supporters of Save the Children, and have promised to give them donations in our wills, and have committed to help share the inspirational stories that we will see. We heard last week at the briefing about how important gifts in wills are to Save the Children’s funding. This is the first time that they have organised a trip like this for supporters like us, and I guess that they are hoping that we can encourage others to do the same. Certainly we’re going to try.

Of course the normal cash donations are still vital to them being able to continue with their vital work around the world. If you want to make either kind of commitment you can do that on their website….Save the Children

I start my journey tomorrow. I can almost hear my own children saying “When are we going to be there?!”

I guess the name says it all. They save children’s lives, they fight for children’s rights and help them fulfil their potential. What does that mean? Well, they work in about 120 countries, providing both long term programmes and emergency relief. At the briefing last week we heard from Robbie who talked passionately about his work in emergency aid. He told us that Save the Children went into 87 emergency areas in 2014 and more than 60 so far this year. That’s a lot more emergencies than I was aware of from the news! It was fascinating to hear from someone directly involved in that work , and so enthusiastic.

We also heard from Sejal about their long term programmes in India for child education, health and nutrition as well as child protection. On top of that, they campaign for long term change to improve children’s lives. I found the breadth of their programmes inspiring. It looks like our programme next week will allow us to see examples of most of these elements. Best get packing!

There are five Save the Children supporters who will travelling on Saturday. We come from various parts of the United Kingdom and from very different backgrounds, but we share a passion and a commitment to help children. All of us have been invited after leaving gifts to Save the Children in our wills to act as ambassadors in order to raise awareness about the charity’s work. It’s a first for this part of StC, so let’s hope that we can justify their faith in us!

You can see photographs of some of the team on this page – Elizabeth, Sheila, and Richard.  The other two are Terry and me, Andy. And you should see their blogs listed on my home page if you want to read even more about this trip.

Also with us will be Jenny and Kris from Save the Children. They’ve organised a fascinating and intensive week for us, so thank you both so much!

Last week I went to the Save the Children office to meet the other donors who will be travelling with me to India – Elizabeth, Richard, Sheila and Terry .  It was the first time that we had met, and also an opportunity to meet the Save the Children team.  We had a full day learning more about Save the Children’s work, starting to get to know each other and hearing about the details of the trip. At the end of the day I was excited at the prospect and at the same time a little apprehensive about what we’re going to see.

So to give a taster…. there is a visit to a school, we will see something of the “WASH” programme (which is about access to hygienic sanitation services, in partnership with the government of Delhi) and we will visit the Delhi slums. In Rajasthan there are Aganwadi centres (Aganwadi means “courtyard shelter” and the centres were started by the Indian government to combat child hunger and malnutrition), a Mothers Milk Bank, a home for abandoned babies, and will have the chance to meet with Health Workers and children. Over the week this is going to give us a very quick look at Save the Children’s ongoing projects in India. I feel very privileged to get the chance to do this.

I can’t write today without acknowledging the horrific news from Paris. To see the pictures and imagine the fear of those caught up in this unleashes so many emotions. My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who have been killed or injured. It makes me want to strengthen our barriers to protect the way of life I know and love, but I know too that to defeat this kind of evil we need to work with children all around the world in order to give them hope for a better future.  It makes me even more grateful for this chance to be going to India.

A couple of months ago I heard about an opportunity to visit India in order to see at first hand what Save the Children is doing to help children in India. My name is Andy, and as a long time Save the Children supporter I jumped at the chance to apply. Then a few weeks later, along with four other donors, I heard that I would be able to go. I was very excited – what a fantastic opportunity!

My head had been buzzing with lots of questions about the trip, and as I’ve talked to friends and family I have gathered a lot more. Some practical: “What will you see?” and “What sort of things do they do there?” Others curious: “Why are Save the Children doing this?”, “What does India think of western charities like Save the Children?”. Some even sceptical: “Why should we give to a country as prosperous as India?” I’m really looking forward to going and to find some answers.

We’ve spent the last few weeks on the essential admin, and now we’re down to the last few days before we go. Finally it seems very real! We will be leaving on November 21st to spend a week in Delhi and Rajasthan. Save the Children have organised a full schedule, and we are fortunate to be able to see many different aspects of the charity’s work. I hope that this blog will help me recall what I see there, and to make sense of it. I hope too that you will find it interesting to read about what I see and what I find out about how Save the Children is using donors money to help children in India.