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You are here: Home / Archives for CHARITY

Doing Something Funny For Money – Comic Relief Danceathon

March 13, 2015 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

At the Britmums Live Conference in 2014 I listened to a wonderful speaker – Emma Freud talk about something that she was incredibly passionate about – Comic Relief. It was funny and emotional and above all inspirational. She had a big idea of something they were hoping to plan for bloggers to be involved with for 2015 and although there wasn’t a lot of detail at the time I decided there and then to do it. At this moment I was starting to realise I had post natal depression – an illness which unfortunately has become a lot worse over the past year but I was determined. Even when the official date was announced and it was the day after Andrews birthday and when the medication I was on made me feel woozy when I stood up too fast.

So we fast forward 9 months from that inspiring speech to last Sunday when I did something funny for money. Something extremely funny if you happened to be watching me because I danced for 6 hours..pretty much non stop ( minus wee breaks ) and I can’t dance at all so I imagine I amused a fair few people in the audience and crowd.

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But it’s all for a good cause right?

And it really is because I was dancing as part of Team Honk for Comic Relief. I raised an individual £345 ( still increasing) and the team collectively raised approximately ( it’s still rising ) £30,000. Which is amazing.

On arrival at Wembley Arena:

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Warming up…

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The day itself was highly charged and emotional as I kind of expected it would be. There were tears ( mostly from me) and lots of laughter and joy throughout the stadium. We were dancing as a team, all of us. The celebrities, the instructors and all of the crowd. It was an experience I don’t imagine I will have again. At times when I felt like I needed a 5 minute break I just looked at Rufus Hound who just kept going ALL DAY LONG.. Or ahem.. Adam Garcia for inspiration.

Highlights for me were the Michael Jackson section, 70’s and Bashment – I did enjoy dancing to Mysterious Girl a LOT more than I should admit. I was perhaps the only person who didn’t know the single ladies dance or Gangnam style – out of touch a bit??

I remembered that yes perhaps this was a daft thing to do considering how unwell I’ve been and that I hadn’t done ANY kind of fitness or training for about two years but that I wasn’t doing it for myself I was doing it …

To help provide a young carer in the UK with a fun activity day, giving them a much-needed break from their huge responsibilities at home – this cost just £10.

So Comic Relief could pay for a young woman in the UK who is experiencing domestic violence to get professional help from a specially trained advisor. – just £30.

So that £100 could enable a young person in Uganda to set up a farming business and work their own way out
of poverty.

Or so £500 could pay for 8 Zambian orphans to go to school for an entire year. A year? That works out at about £1.30 a day for 8 children – less than most of us pay for a coffee.

A small amount of money from us can make such a HUGE difference to people’s lives.

And yes you know what’s coming next don’t you?

You can still sponsor me by clicking here. Or you can sponsor someone else within Team Honk or simply give today as much as you can within your workplace bake sale or your school non uniform day. Do something funny for money – ask your family to pay you a £1 each for you to wear a tutu to the supermarket. Think about how much money you, we, I waste every month and spare a little of that for a great cause.

Believe me if I can dance for 6 hours after 48 hours prior spending an entire 24 hours vomiting .. It should make you dig in your pocket. I’d love you just a little bit more for it.

To those that have already sponsored – THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it and how you all spurred me on during the Danceathon.

PS – I only went and learnt the Thriller routine.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: 2015, adam Garcia, Bashment, CHARITY, Comic Relief, danceathon, Rufus Hound, team honk, Thriller

Brands Supporting Charities – JoJo Maman Bébé Motorbike Ambulance

October 20, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Most of you will have heard of JoJo Maman Bébé before, perhaps you have even bought some of their fabulous childrens products like us but did you know that for the last 8 years they have been supporting mothers and babies in Mozambique?

Here is what they have to say about it:

In Mozambique, infant and maternal mortality rates are scarily high – in some areas one in three children will not live to see their 5th birthday. JoJo Maman Bébé, the mother and baby specialist, has been working to help reduce this shocking statistics for the past 8 years.

In rural areas, seeking medical attention often means a long walk to reach the town. Once there you will join a queue outside the basic hospital only to find, when it is eventually your turn to see the doctor, that in most cases the medicine has already run out.

A motorbike ambulance will speed up the process of treating patients by taking much needed medicines to those most in need and getting them to the hospital on time in the case of a difficult birth.

“We would love to be able to buy an ambulance in time for Christmas this year” says Laura Tenison MBE, JoJo founder and MD, who has recently returned from visiting the charity.

As a mother of two and someone who had to be admitted to hospital in numerous occasions during pregnancy I can’t imagine having to walk for hours in order to get to my nearest hospital. In the UK we are so lucky with our healthcare system and although we complain about waiting lists etc I think we should be very grateful for that. Imagine your baby in pain needing a doctor and knowing it would take 4 hours to get them there. How frightening and heartbreaking it must be to know you can’t provide the care your child needed or being pushed to a hospital in a wheelbarrow during labour.

A motorbike ambulance will speed up the process of treating patients by taking much needed medicines to those most in need and getting them to the hospital on time in the case of a difficult birth. It costs just £12,000 to buy a motorbike ambulance, run and maintain it for two years, amazingly including the driver’s salary. JoJo customers can support this much needed appeal in two ways – by purchasing a JoJo Gift Voucher in store or online, or by donating directly through the JoJo website. JoJo has pledged to donate 10% of the value of every Gift Voucher purchased to Nema this Christmas, in order to raise the funds required.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: CHARITY, jojomaman bebe, motorbike ambulance, mozambique

The C Word

September 25, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 3 Comments

The C word. I hate it.

I hate to hear it in sentences from people I love or to overhear it in coffee shops or pubs.

I hate to see it online affecting people. Changing lives.

Six letters which can change your world.

Cancer.

Three summers ago I heard that word from my mum when she stood in front of us and said “it’s cancer” we knew it before she said it. From the moment she called on the way home from her appointment and said she would talk to us when she got home – not the overjoyed voice of relief we had hoped for but a small voice which tried to remain strong for her (almost all grown up) children.

I heard that word so often that year. A hard year for my family but a weirdly wonderful one too as Izzy was born and then my mum went on to beat breast cancer after two operations and radiotherapy. She’s a fighter.

We have lost grandparents to cancer. Friends have lost parents and siblings. It’s such a scary word.

I worry for my mum every day. Everytime she has an ache or pain my mind flits back to that time. I worry for my dad. I worry for myself.. For Andrew and for our children and my siblings.

This rotten, selfish disease who tiptoes up and threatens your family. Who doesn’t care how wonderful or generous the person is who it affects. Who doesn’t stop think no, not them. Not now.

This autumn marks three years cancer free for my mum. Something which wouldn’t be possible without research, medicine and science.

On Friday I will be supporting my mum and Macmillan cancer research by baking cakes, attending my mums coffee morning and donating.

Can you support it too? Find your nearest coffee morning here

I’m writing this late at night ( actually very early in the morning) and my mind is all a muddle but I’d like to do more. Raise money. Use this blog for good. If I thought of something, some way to do something which would raise money – would you help? So many of you read my blog these days I’m overwhelmed ( thanks by the way) and with your help I could maybe, possibly do something good. Who is with me?

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Filed Under: Family · Tagged: breast cancer, cancer, CHARITY, macmillan

Lasting Change – Team Honk Digital Postcard

March 8, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

Team Honk – a group of bloggers who have helped raise awareness and a sizeable chunk of money through social media and blogging have headed to Tanzania to find out the difference donations to last years Sports Relief have made.

Find out more about the Team Honk Team here the team is made up of some of my favourite bloggers/tweeters and I’ve followed their fundraising journey with interest over the last year. I am incredibly inspired by the energy and effort they have put into Sports Relief.

They have been sharing digital postcards with bloggers all over the UK telling us the stories behind the inspirational women they have met.

This is Lucy – Through mentoring and training the Gatsby Trust gave Lucy the confidence to develop her business and to network after moving from the countryside to the city, She is an inspirational creative who brought out so many beautiful, imaginative handcrafted items to show us. More than that she is a teacher and looks forward expanding her business by training other women who want to start up craft and textile businesses.

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You can get involved with a Sports Relief Event or simply make a donation by clicking here

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Filed Under: random · Tagged: CHARITY, international womens day, lasting change, sports relief, team honk

Not All African Children Are Sad

June 11, 2012 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 7 Comments

Lately it seems that every time we turn on the tv there is another advert for a charity such as water aid and startling images of desperately starving and sad faces of African children, these adverts are intended to pull on the heart strings and they do. I do to a certain extent agree with the showing of these adverts and I know it probably creates such a lot of much needed funds but unfortunately it can also make you feel that every child in Africa has permanent tear tracks on their face.

Two years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time working with the WYCE ( wonder years centre of excellence) charity in The Gambia and it was the most fantastic experience I have ever had. It wasn’t a holiday but it was still one of the best holidays I’ve ever had if that makes any sense!

I found out about WYCE through reading an article in a workplace magazine written by a man from Swansea who had recently been to work with them and within a few weeks of reading it had booked the flights and reserved a room at the working lodge. Flights to The Gambia aren’t cheap and by the time you added in the necessary jabs,malaria tablets and food and lodge it was probably about the same price as a luxury all inclusive holiday but it was going to be a far cry from luxury.. Cold showers and no electricity were a slight worry for me! But still if I could go back and swap this trip for a 5 star hotel in Barbados I wouldn’t. I’m not going to tell you that it changed my life but it definitely changed the way I think about certain issues.

From the moment we arrived at the rickety little airport in The Gambia we felt welcomed, another volunteer and Malang our guide (and protector) for the duration of our stay greeted us literally with open arms and ice cold water. It took us around an our hour to get to the village of Madina Salaam and as we pulled into the lodge several of the local children lingered nearby shouting toubab (white man) and smiling at us.

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We were shown to our room which to my relief were basic but quaint with everything we would really need and the basic rules of the lodge were explained to us.

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The next step was for us to be taken to the centre of the village and introduced to the elders who had to accept us for us to be able to work there. Luckily for us they did, although this was an extremely surreal experience. We met what I suppose would have been the mayor of the village in a tiny one room hut ( which we would later discover was the height of luxury compared to the rest of the homes there ) where he lived with his three wives and a number of children! A girl of around 4 sat just outside slicing a mango with a huge machete which I would have been afraid to hold myself!
The villagers were very welcoming to us and were just slightly bewildered as to how myself and A had been together for two years but were not married and even more astonished that I was in my mid 20’s with no children.. Different worlds. The next day after a lovely breakfast of pancakes cooked for us by the fabulous WYCE chef Ensa we were put to work helping in the school (me) and with heavy lifting.. man stuff of course.

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We took a number of school supplies over with us ( 1 whole suitcase full) generously donated by friends/family.

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We also took a big bag of modelling balloons which went down a storm with the children even after they had burst the remains were kept in the childrens pockets until the day we left which was incredibly touching.

not all african children are sad

The children of Madina Salaam have nothing in the way of toys, TVs etc but they are the happiest most content children I have ever met. They all hold each others hands as they walk to school and share fruit with one another and just smile all day long! We were told not to give personal items or presents to individuals so as not to encourage jealousy which we abided by but it was hard as we did grow close to some.

I could probably write all day about all our different experiences there so I will try to limit it!

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Above is a coconut tree plant which we each bought to plant outside the new school building, as they grow they provide much needed shade for the children during playtime. Looking forward to going back to see it in a few years!

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Above is Andrew enjoying a traditional Gambian meal which I helped the ladies of the village prepare. Everyone sat on the floor to eat together and it was a strange, messy but fun experience.

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Me with a lovely little baba .. Everyone wanted us to hold their children! I was never going to refuse a baby cuddle. It seemed to astonish me daily seeing very small children carrying smaller siblings on their backs but it seems a way of life there .

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Painting the new school building was a longgg process as the paint was extremely watered down but fun!

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To sum up. We had a once in a lifetime experience in Madina Salaam and I would love to go back when Izzy is older to show it all to her but maybe wait a while as it got up to 50 degs Celsius whilst we were there. WYCE are doing an incredible job of increasing and improving education, skills and employment possibilities in The Gambia and anyone who is looking for a more meaningful holiday could not look for a better place. http://wyce.org.uk/

I hope you enjoy reading and understand I am not making light of the very real problems that many people in Africa are experiencing every day but to share some happy news about some very special people in a magical village called Madina Salaam.

One final pic to end.. The lovely Bindu:

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Filed Under: random · Tagged: AFRICA, CHARITY, CHILDREN, MADINA SALAAM, THE GAMBIA, VOLUNTEER, WYCE

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