6 February 2010

Weeks of preparation culminated in Direct Link's concert on behalf of Allan's university fees (see below). Carolyn Sparey Fox and Jeremy Fox played beautiful music to suit all tastes, at the Stirling Methodist Church, followed by tea and nibbles. The concert turned into a 'party', with different groups of people mingling and chatting long after the music had ended. An excellent sum was raised and a good time was had by all.

7 January 2010

So much has happened during the second half of 2009 that it is difficult to know where to begin.

We have embarked on a programme of sight restoration for the grannies and widows and, to date, four grannies have had their sight completely restored, with others in the pipeline and due to have operations soon. This new programme was inspired by the East Neuk House Group who suggested trying to restore the sight of their sponsored Granny Doris. Doris was the first granny to have her sight completely restored and she was so excited she hardly knew what to do! She is now able to walk around the village visiting neighbours instead of sitting alone on her doorstep, starving. She was discovered there after three days, having eaten nothing because she could not see to find or prepare food. Lanark Grammar School have been instrumental in raising the funds for all the other grannies to receive their treatment.

Allan, one of our sponsored boys, has been offered a place at the University of Nairobi and a substantial amount of fundraising has been carried out in order to raise the money to enable him to take up his place, starting this month. A fundraising concert is being held on 5th February, in Stirling, with Carolyn Sparey Fox and Jeremy Fox kindly giving their time to play the viola and the flute. Gemma (see below) has recently raised another £1000 to assist with Allan's fees.

The Kids' Kitchen has been very busy feeding the primary school children at lunchtime, providing them with a hot meal to fill their stomachs prior to working in the school all the afternoon.

The Computer School is still very active and more money has been donated this Christmas, to pay another year's fees for the IT trainer.

15 May 2009

11 April 2009

The Kids' Kitchen is still up and running during the primary school term time and it is a very popular success. Even more so because the crops have failed yet again and there is a great shortage of food in the village at the moment. The price of food has also escalated, so the cost of providing food for the Kids' Kitchen has gone up quite substantially.

19 January 2009

Christmas 2008 has been an incredibly busy time for Direct Link. Fund raising started in September, with the sales of Christmas cards exceeding all expectations. We exhibited at a charity event and gained good publicity through the media.  One very special event was the presentation of a Diana Award to one of our most special fund-raisers, who is only 16 years old, yet has raised enough money to refurbish a granny's house, provide a water tank, refurnish the house, and then pay for weeks of food in the Kids' Kitchen.

Distribution of food took place over the Christmas period, thanks to all our wonderful supporters who bought chickens, goats and help-a-granny certificates to give to their friends and family as gifts. Have a look at our Direct Link Christmas 2008 photo gallery to see this latest distribution. Other photos can be seen on the Arrival of the Goats page and Granny Uniter's House page. 

Other kind donors have given enough funding to pay the salary of the computer trainer for another year, in the Computer Centre. 

The Kids' Kitchen has been a great success, with substantial sums of money raised for its continuation now that the children are back at school after the Christmas holidays.  Have a look under the tab The Kids' Kitchen Gallery for all the latest photographs of the children enjoying their lunchtime meal.

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