This is an urgent appeal from The Perfect Day Foundation on behalf of Fountain of Hope.

As many of you may know, Fountain of Hope is a refuge for street children in Lusaka, Zambia. It provides sanctuary, food, shelter, education, healthcare and sports sessions to some of the most disadvantaged children in Zambia. For several years, this institute has been a lifeline and, as the name suggests, brought hope to the lives of many. It is staffed purely by volunteers – teachers and nurses working to improve the lives of young people.

The work done by these amazing people is inspirational.

The Perfect Day Foundation’s Trustee and long-time supporter of Zambia, Dr. Peter Warburton OBE recently travelled to the Fountain of Hope and was unbelievably shocked and upset at what he saw.

Since the death of head teacher Isaac a year ago, Fountain of Hope has run into considerable difficulties. The project is now run by Vasco and Kenny – both of whom are former Street Kids themselves and are now aged 26. They are experiencing serious problems and the government has thus far, shown no support.

The current reality makes grim reading.

They have no food at all, water is no longer running and the toilet provisions are indescribable.

Because of these issues they have lost a lot of their residents - although they now have 11 children back with them living in desperate circumstances. Many children, who usually, despite their circumstances, have an unimaginable energy and resilience, are completely traumatised and in desperate need of support in what is a most difficult situation

UK University Students who have been lucky enough to visit Zambia as part of the Wallace Group have been touched and inspired by the work of Fountain of Hope. Many of you have seen, first-hand, the impact of the wonderful work that is carried out in the centre. It is imperative this work is allowed to continue.

In the short term Peter and Sport in Action are helping to set up a new board to oversee the running of the site. A donation of £1,000 has ensured enough food for three months and it is hoped a further year's worth of food will be provided by an American charity.

But we need your help.

The Perfect Day Foundation is appealing to Wallace Group Students, past and present, and anyone else able to support, to help to ensure that Fountain's good work can continue. We are hoping to raise £4,000 to cover the costs of water reconnection and renovation of the toilet and shower facilities. We also hope to set up a lasting relationship with the Fountain of Hope to ensure it has the resources to continue its invaluable work.

Those of us who have travelled to Zambia or other poverty hit parts of the world, can, we’re sure, remember the phenomenal feeling you got after the first time you were ambushed by hundreds of smiling faces! And how much fun you had on the various playing fields of Lusaka or elsewhere.

In the short term, this is an urgent request for your support.

If you have been in any way inspired by the work of Fountain of Hope, and would like to get involved with ensuring it continues please get in touch with us. We are currently working on a series of events that will help us reach this target.

Any donations, big or small, will be most appreciated.

If you are in a position to support financially please make a bank deposit into our registered business account or contact one of us to know more (HSBC Business Account; Account No. 72227843; Sort Code 40-04-01).

Please pass this email onto other fellow IDEALS students, either those from your University, the group you travelled with or those from your year of the Project. Equally please forward to anyone who could help and support.

Thank for you for reading this. We hope to hear from you soon.

Caroline, Laura, Mollie, Rob, Richard & Paul

Directors - The Perfect Day Foundation (registered charity no 1136511)

The Peer Leader Education Support Programme

We are delighted to announce our first high profile project....

The Perfect Day Foundation working in partnership with Sport In Action (SIA) - a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose purpose is to improve people’s quality of life through sport and recreational activities - have introduced a programme to support the education costs of Peer Leaders.

The programme will start with support to six peer leaders in January 2010 for their education. The sponsorship will cover the following, schools fees, stationary, uniforms, shoes and other school requirements. Below is the outline of the program:

Peer Leader Support Programme objectives:

• To contribute to the education program of 6 peer leaders in different communities in Zambia.
• To provide school requirements for all the identified peer leaders under the education support program
• Provide feedback on the education progress of the peer leaders to all sponsors of the project.
• To build capacity in Peer leaders who will in turn transfer the information to the children they will be working with.

The Perfect Day Foundation are proud to introduce the six Peer Leaders being supported for the 2010 academic year...

Catherine Mutale 

Catherine goes to Kamwala High School and is currently a player for the Sport In Action netball team and is also coaching at Fountain of Hope and Mtendere Project sites. The main thing Catherine likes about working with the children and young people are the smiles they have when they are doing sports activities.

Cosmos Siwale

Cosmos goes to Lizeyete Education Centre (Chipata Community) and is working as a Junior Peer leader which includes coaching an under 12 basketball team at Chipata Community school at Chipata over spill. Cosmos hopes to be a professional basketball player and one day play in the Zambia National Basketball team.

Delphine Mapulanga

Depphine is a pupil at Chamba Valley Basic School and plays netball at Munali project site and also coaches under 14 netball team. Delphine likes working in sports with other people as she believes it helps to learn a lot about life which will stand her in good stead as she wants to be a nurse when she leaves school.

Frank Banda

Frank attends Tunduya Basic School, captain of his football team and is working as a young peer leader for the Munali project in Lusaka. Frank loves being involved in sport as it gives him confidence – he wants to be a soldier and a professional footballer.

Gibson Chilwa

Gibson is at Chipata Open Community School. Another footballer Gibson is a Peer leader from Chipata community school as well as coaching an under 10 team and playing for the under 16 team. Gibson would like to become a Teacher and so he can carrying on doing lots of sports at the school were he will be teaching.

Susan Sianga

Susan is a pupil at Kamwala High School and coaches netball in the Sport In Action Netball team as well as at Fountain of Hope and Mtendere. Susan wants to study social work and be a social worker to make a difference in her community.

 

Get Involved...

Contact The Perfect Day Foundation at info@theperfectdayfoundation.org or get involved on Twitter and Facebook.

To sign up for our Newsletter, please send an e-mail entitled 'Newsletter' with your name and email address to: 

laura@theperfectdayfoundation.org

Donate...

Any Donations will be put to great use on a number of our current and upcoming projects. Help us make a real difference to the lives of people in Zambia.

Latest News...

September 2010 - Perfect Day Foundation annouces our first ever PDF Pub Quiz - to be held at Charterhouse Bar, Central London on Thursday 11th November. Get a team together - emailmollie@theperfectdayfoundation.org for more details!