Splashing, graduations, weddings and marathons...plus we are looking for volunteers!

There are lots of great things to update you with from S.A.L.V.E. at the moment...

Uganda

First of all we want to say huge congratulations to Juliet, who is on our team of staff, and who recently had her graduation party from University!

We also want to welcome Lailite to our staff team as a home assistant!

The children have been enjoying a wonderful time on their holidays between first and second term of school. Lots of fun and games were had as well as a chance for the children to go and visit some of their relatives where possible.

We had especially good news for Hassan who has managed to be re-united with his mother who he lost touch with aged four when his parents divorced. It was wonderful for them to find each other again - and he got to meet his new half-brothers and sisters too!



UK

It's been a busy time for us in the UK too. We've had lots of incredible people taking on the Nile in the UK to make a Splash for S.A.L.V.E. and help to raise money for us, from Kate in Brussels, to Fiona in Chesterfield to the Manchester crew who took up the challenge yesterday (is that really a Nile crocodile in the UK?!). A huge thank you to you all for your efforts and good luck to all of those yet to swim!


Another huge congrats has to go to the amazing Kathryn Ellis who got round the London Marathon in style for S.A.L.V.E. in an impressive time of 4 hours 36 minutes - from all of us on the S.A.L.V.E. team, well done!


Another big thank you has to go to Becca and Jeremie who have been long term supporters of S.A.L.V.E. - so much so that they didn't forget us on their special day and did an incredible collection for us at their wedding! Thank you so much!!


Also a big congrats to everyone who took part in BUMMIT hitchhike from Sheffield to Poland with Sheffield rag. You all did so well and we are so proud to be one of the charities you have chosen to support this year!


Volunteer

Finally, just to let you know that we are currently looking for two amazing interns to go out to Uganda and help us in our work from September to February - check out the details on how to apply here.

If that's a bit too far to go - there is something you can do in the comfort of your own home to make a huge difference! We have entered the Co-operative's My Revolution Competition and are currently at 2nd place in our category (first place wins £5000 ... 2nd place wins nothing) and we have 20 days to get to number one! Please help us by voting and by asking your friends and family to vote too - £5000 would make a huge difference to the work we can do in Uganda this year!

Thanks again for your support,
Lots of love from the S.A.L.V.E. Team

Want to intern with S.A.L.V.E. in Uganda?

So it's that time of year again where we are looking for two amazing passionate people to go and intern with S.A.L.V.E. out in Uganda. And the deadline is approaching fast (this Wednesday!).

This is an exciting post for someone hoping to get more involved in the charity sector, which will provide excellent hands-on experience. The successful candidates will undertake a four month placement, and will be involved in all aspects of the charity's work on the ground. Interns will work closely with the charity's Ugandan staff in their work with children on the street through our street clinics, as well as on site at the charity's foster home. Interns will also be expected to help in the charity's community education program to help to address the causes of why children take to the streets in the first place, i.e. through research, syllabus design and facilitation. There will also be opportunities to assist our link schools, particularly assisting the teachers with (but not limited to) music, art, sport, debating and homework clubs.

As a relatively new charity, S.A.L.V.E. International offers the chance for very real experience, and the opportunity for interns to bring their own ideas to the table. We are looking for enthusiastic, dedicated applicants with a can-do attitude who are not afraid to get stuck in with any sort of work. There will be many duties within the local community, and we expect the successful interns to act as ambassadors for the charity, whilst also being happy to carry out a certain amount of administrative work behind the scenes.

This position is unpaid and the interns will be expected to finance their transport and living costs whilst in Uganda. Please download the full job spec from charity job (http://www.charityjob.co.uk/seekers/jobdetails.aspx?jobid=176779) and to have any questions answered please email info@salveinternational.org.

Please apply in writing, sending your C.V. and a covering letter explaining why you are suitable for this role to info@salveinternational.org by 12 noon on Wednesday 7^th July. All applicants must be available for interview on Sunday 18^th July and a training day on Saturday 7^th August. The successful candidates will depart for Uganda in early September 2010 and stay until the end of late December.

Many of our past interns have gone on to get their ideal job in the charity sector on the back of this experience. In fact one of our first interns Caitlin O'Neill (who now works in the fundraising department of a major charity in London) has even gone on to become a charity trustee and now heads our fundraising work in the UK.

And this is what Esther Dobson (another of our previous interns) has to say about her experience:

'My time in Uganda was certainly one of the most rewarding and fulfilling of my life as well as being a fantastic opportunity to build the skills and experiences needed to go on to do so much more. From the very beginning my intern partner Caitlin and I were welcomed into SALVE family and by the end of our 4 months we were good friends with a lot of the “full timers” living and sleeping on the streets. It was such a privilege to be part of the process helping some of the children through the transition from the streets to SALVE home and seeing their transformation as they became clean, educated, loved and accepted. Other projects I got involved with like creating an income generating project for poor mothers, research and educating local authorities about street children have been brilliant experience for my masters in social policy and will be invaluable in getting a job in project development in the international development sector. I am also very grateful for SALVE teaching me so much I needed to know to set up my own children’s home in Nepal, now a loving family to nine orphaned, abandoned and street children. Thank you SALVE!'

A focus on the Fundraising

In honour of the fact that we are launching our incredible London Fundraising team very soon and are currently recruiting for dedicated volunteers we thought that we'd do a special blog for you all about fundraising.

Now anyone who has been following our work this year must have noticed our rather creative efforts to raise money are ever increasing: we decided as an organisation to start fundraising to buy our own land during our annual general meeting in Uganda earlier this year and so far the support we've had has been tremendous and we've raised over £5000!

This has been raised through a variety of ways: people being sponsored to take on challenges, fundraising events and through people generously donating (either a one off or a regular sum no matter how big or small does make a huge difference to us!).

Two of our most recent fundraising champions Becca and Lucy Fawcett wrote this about their recent running triumph:

Running the BIG half for SALVE

Why SALVE?

After seeing the amazing difference that the S.A.L.V.E. team had already made to street children's lives in Uganda, Luc and Becca wanted to do their bit in support of the great project. Through the sponsorship of Maureen, the Fawcett family has had a glimpse into the day-to-day struggles of the street children in Jinja and the amazing work S.A.L.V.E. does.

S.A.L.V.E's work is particularly pertinent to the girls as the charity was set up and is run by people their own age. It also offers a great opportunity to see 100% of donations go straight where they are desperately needed. As the charity is still small, they can see that every penny raised makes a real difference.

Why the Sheffield half marathon?

As neither sister had ever really run beyond the obligatory (and life-threatening) 1,500 metres at school they decided the Sheffield half marathon would be sufficiently taxing for 2010. For Becca it was a welcome break from the City and for Luc a reminder of what great sights Sheffield has to offer…
The sisters made the decision to run in February, giving themselves about 8 weeks to prepare. At first a grueling 20 minute jog around the block seemed epic, so the prospect of a 13 mile run was inconceivable. The Just Giving page was launched and a target of £500 was set – gradually the sponsorship started to roll in and the project built up momentum.

As the weeks went by a bit of cycling and a few sit-ups were thrown in to the ‘training regimes’ for good measure…in fact Becca and Luc were surprised at how fast they went from loathing to loving the runs. Knowing they had a target to achieve and children to help gave them the extra push to get up on those rainy Sundays to pound the streets of London and Sheffield. The sponsorship monies grew and grew and before long the target was met and even doubled. Alison and Simon Fawcett hosted a “Chili Evening” which was a great (and delicious) success.

Crunch time. The sisters were both feeling nervous as they stood on the track at Don Valley stadium amongst the crowd of very professional looking athletes. The running conditions were looking good: no rain, not too sunny nor too windy - perfect! Even better, another crew of cheery S.A.L.V.E. fundraisers were quickly spotted thanks to the bright yellow T-shirts. The “yellows” shared stories and momentary laughter. However panic quickly followed – if we don’t make it, we won’t have earnt the sponsorship…what then - what about the Jinja kids???

The sisters ran together, both feeling strong for those first six miles; running from Don Valley through the revamped city centre and along the popular Ecclesall Road…mile 11 was the point when they started to get emotional…nearly there! The last lap around the stadium was tough, with people collapsing in the final mile...

The sisters went for “sprint finishes”, Becca finishing in 2hrs 07mins and Luc in 2hrs17mins.

The next day was sore, but absolutely worth it.

THANK YOU S.A.L.V.E. International for motivating us to have such an emotional and exciting experience and giving us such an amazing target.

With generous sponsorship from the DLA Piper Charitable Trust, colleagues, friends and family across the UK, Becca and Lucy raised over £1,500 for S.A.L.V.E.

Do you want to get more involved?

We are always happy to help and support anyone who is interested in fundraising for S.A.L.V.E. and have a fundraising pack full of good ideas to get you on your way: please email caitlin@salveinternational.org for more info!