Preparing for Uganda

Last week saw us introduce S.A.L.V.E.'s two new interns, Emma Vickers and Imogen Bancroft. At the beginning of September we will be waving them off as they head for sunnier climes and the welcoming smiles of the S.A.L.V.E. Uganda team. With their departure just around the corner, we wanted to find out how they were feeling as they work their way through their enormous to-do lists as they prepare for their big trip. Are they nervous? Excited? And what are they most looking forward to getting their teeth stuck into?

Imogen (left) and Emma (right)

Read on to find out, as we hear from Emma and Imogen in their own words...


Emma Vickers

I graduated from Nottingham University in 2008 and since then have been working towards a career in developmetn. I have spent time working in research at a city council and recently spent a year in France to learn the language, however, my main ambition is to work in Africa.

Since first visiting in 2007, I have been unable to forget the colour, chaos and vibrancy of the region, and this internship gives me the perfect opportunity to return in a more helpful capacity than your average backpacker. I can't rememember when I decided that I wanted to work towards alleviating poverty. I think the disparities in opportunity and personal freedom between the wealthy and the poverty-stricken is something I have always been aware of, but perhaps was particularly hammered home during my time working and traveling in East Africa and Africa.

Emma

But then of course, the big question is what to do about it and where to focus my skills? The scale of the problem is enormous, but I do know that I have always enjoyed working with children and young people and I also have enormous faith in the power of education to raise aspirations, broaden horizons and provide opportunities for progress.

I am hugely excited about meeting the team, the kids, and putting into place all the projects Imogen and I have started to plan. I hope we can move S.A.L.V.E. forward to help more children and develop the community so that children are not driven to the street in the first place. My one worry is the huge amount of preparation it seems we have to do before we get on that plane - but i'm sure we'll manage!

Imogen Bancroft

The more I have learnt about the improtant work of S.A.L.V.E. International since being accepted for the internship, the more my excitement has grown. I have recently completed a Masters at SOAS (School of African Studies) in Development Studies in which I focused my studies on Africa, youth and children's rights, and I feel that this role is an amazing opportunity for me to rbing my knowledge and understanding to the charity, and to learn and develop my own skills.

Imogen

I spent a year in Africa in 2003, spending four months setting up a project at a school in Kenya, and traveling around Southern Africa. This humbling experience transformed my life and I have since dedicated my time to learning about the African continent, its troubles and context within the world, and to exploring wyas that I may be able to help those less fortunate than myself. I feel that children are key to the positive development and wellbeing of any society, as they are representative of the future and have a unique way of acting as connectors. But what also attracted me to this role was the comprehensive grassroots nature of S.A.L.V.E. in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable by providing a safe and meaningful grounding in education.

Imogen and Emma modelling their new S.A.L.V.E. t-shirts!

I can't wait to get out there, to meet the children and the team, and to get stuck into doig what I can to help the children on a personal level, as well as aiding the development of the charity as a whole.

Introducing Some New Faces!

You may ask why it's been a little quiet on the blog front recently. Well, here at S.A.L.V.E. we have very good reason, as it's been a whirlwind of activity as we recruit for our two new interns, who are due to head out to Uganda in early September!

So, without further ado, let us introduce the two lucky girls who will be joining the S.A.L.V.E. team... Huge congratulations to Emma Vickers and Imogen Bancroft who fought off some incredibly tough competition to take up their places as the new S.A.L.V.E. interns. As the UK team sifted through all of the applications we received for the position, we were struck by two things: how the number of applicants has increased enormously, and the incredibly high standard of all those applying to us. In the light of this, we can safely say that both Emma and Imogen should feel justly proud of being selected as the lucky two, after what was a very tricky selection day!

Esther and Cailtin: S.A.L.V.E.'s first two interns

Alice, one of our second interns, with baby Caren

After being given the exciting news that they are off to spend four months in Uganda, there are lots of things for them to do before jetting off. Not only do they need to sort out their visas, jabs and flights, but they need to fundraise for their time away as the money they take with them will go directly to the projects they work on whilst they are out in Uganda.

Esther holds a community education workshop

But then, what projects will they choose to work on?! There are a whole host of different things that they can put their efforts towards whilst working with our Ugandan team - previous interns have set up jewellery-making projects and drama groups, or have concentrated on establishing our street clinics or carrying out research into why children come to live on the streets in the first place. As a small charity, our interns are invaluable to the work that we do, and as we grow, the ways in which they can help us are ever increasing. We are incredibly excited to see what Emma and Imogen will make of their time with us in Uganda, but one thing's for certain - we know they both have the energy, passion and enthusiasm to make it a huge success!

The S.A.L.V.E. jewellery-making project in full flow

From all of us at S.A.L.V.E....good luck girls!

First things first - can we all take a minute to think about all those poor people affected by the Ugandan bombings this week in the capital, Kampala. It is distressing to think of everyone who must have been so frightened and upset by the attacks and we send out all our prayers and wishes that the the trouble will soon be over. To read more about the attacks click here: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/12/uganda-bomb-blasts-kampala.

But now on to some exciting news - this weekend the interviews are taking place for the new set of interns to venture out to Jinja and help to continue the work of SALVE over there. We have had some fantastic candidates applying which we are sure means that two wonderful people will be going out to spend some time with the SALVE children and staff. We are very jealous but also very grateful that others understand and support the vital work that must be done for street children in Uganda. Good luck to all candidates and we look forward to seeing who the lucky chosen two will be!

Not only are we interviewing for new interns, but also for a few Local Fundraiser posts. These are very important positions as our fundraising drive has really begun and we need much more money in order to buy the land we desperately need. The Local Fundraisers will have a fairly free reign of things they can get involved with, from writing Trust applications, shaking buckets, and putting on events. Hopefully this will mean we can reach our target of £50,000 sooner than we think!

On a related note - watch this space for an exciting event in November...let's just say get your tartan out and your dancing shoes on! Thank you for reading and we hope you come back next week for more SALVE news.

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!'

How to Help?

Nights on the streets in Jinja are a world away from the life we know here in the UK. When Nicola and Helen were first setting up S.A.L.V.E. back in 2008, there is one night that sticks out in their mind more than any other.

After a day spent meeting children on the street, they returned to their lodgings as usual. But whilst their day that had been filled with sunshine and plenty of hope for the future, there followed one of the wildest nights in living memory. A storm of huge proportions hit Jinja. The winds raged, lightening flashed and the thunder deafened. And as the shutters were battered against their bedroom windows, all Nicola and Helen could think of was the children they had left on the streets as they came home that evening.

This is one of the most difficult things about S.A.L.V.E.’s work; that however many children we help along they way, there are always more who we haven’t been able to offer assistance to, often due to circumstances beyond our control. And so, when we are unable to bring a child into our house and onto the S.A.L.V.E. sponsorship scheme, we look for other ways in which we can help them.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that one way we do this is through our street clinics where we are able to offer support and counselling to those kids who are still living on the streets of Jinja. But if the circumstances allow it, another crucial aspect of our work is to reunite children with the families thy have left behind. Children take to the streets for a wide variety of reasons, and whilst it is logical to think that they left home because their families no longer want to look after them, this is often a long way from the truth. In fact, many children end up on the streets because they have been searching for family, but don’t know where to start and soon find they have nowhere to go. So whenever we can, we try to bring a child back together with their family. Sometimes this takes a good bit of detective work on our part, whilst at other times this can be very straightforward, as a child will often know where to find their relations but simply doesn’t have the means of getting to them.

This week, S.A.L.V.E.’s Ugandan team were able to help a child in just this way and are currently in the process of restoring a boy called Junior to his family. Junior has been living on the streets for three years now, and desperately wants to be back at home with his elder brother who we are currently searching for. Although this may take a bit of time, we are getting there slowly but surely, having recently traced his grandmother, who hasn’t seen him since he left home. With many other family members to care for, Junior’s grandmother is unable to take him in, but she was overjoyed to see him, and we hope that through her we will soon be able to get Junior back to where he belongs. We'll be sure to keep you posted on any developments in our search for Junior's family, so do come back to see how we get on.

A Spotlight on S.A.L.V.E. Uganda

Last week’s blog saw a fantastic insight into the fundraising that we do, and the generous people who give up their time to do this for us. So this week, let’s turn the spotlight on our work in Uganda, to see some of the places that your donations are going.

Supporting Street Clinics!

Central to our work as a charity are our weekly street clinics. As we can only care for a small number of children in our home, our street clinics provide an opportunity for us to counsel and support those children still living on the street, and to get to know them and their backgrounds. Our street clinics offer a chance for these vulnerable children to see some familiar faces and to rebuild their trust in the adults around them.

At this week’s street clinic, our Ugandan team also saw a familiar face – Kefa, a child who we used to work with on the streets, but haven’t seen for a long while. Recognising Mike and the team, he came closer and gave a shy smile. Gradually he began to talk, and quickly showed how keen he is to return to school and bring an end to his life on the streets. We hope that we will be able to help him to achieve his dream, so watch this space to see what happens over the coming weeks.

Community Education

If you think back through our many blogs, you’ll remember that our first set of interns, Caitlin and Esther, ran a small jewellery-making project for local school children and their mothers. This was a great success, and we soon hope to turn this trial project into a full-time reality as part of our community education programme.

As a charity, we have always felt that community education is hugely important to the work that we do as we try to look past the problem and to the cause. We hope that by working in local communities, educating locals and providing them with a revenue stream, we will be able to have some impact – however big or small – on the poverty which drives children to the streets in the first place.

And finally…

We are now advertising for our next set of interns to join us out in Uganda! Our internship runs from September to December, and offers the successful candidates the chance to really become a part of our charity and to have a say in the crucial work that we carry out. We are looking for people who are enthusiastic, proactive and have bags of energy…but above all, they must be PASSIONATE about what we do! If you want to apply, or think you know someone who would be perfect for the role, then let us know at info@salveinternational.org.

To download the full job spec, please visit http://www.charityjob.co.uk/seekers/jobdetails.aspx?jobid=176779 and apply with your CV and covering letter by 12 noon on Wednesday 7th July. You’d better get your skates on!

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!