Please allow me to deviate from the latest pandemic and start to appreciate the deserving members of our community who are going above and beyond to make a difference. Bedfordshire Community Awards is once again searching for people or groups in a our villages and towns describing why you want to honour them. So far we have 2 nominations and looking for more, if anyone is wondering what to write, see our nominees below
SYDNEY CAMPBELL I would like to thank Sydney for all the work he does for the residents of Queens Park. He makes me feel safe when I'm walking over the bridge into Queens Park as his regular presence stops undesirable characters from loitering there. He has a very cheerful personality and it is a pleasure to exchange a few friendly words. If anyone genuinely cares about Queens Park with no personal or political gain then its Sydney. He goes above and beyond his role as a coordinator and not just looks after our streets but the safety of the residents. When ever you see him he greets all with his smile, whatever the weather. Dealing with matters that is not in his job remit , this includes raising concerns and matters to Official's to dealing with issues himself if he can. Most of us living in Queens Park will walk past problems and think its the councils or someone else's problem, Sydney makes it personal and tries to resolve it. Doing the job he does and going the extra mile is not everyone's cup of tea. It takes a special person with a big heart and kind soul to do what he does. If you wanted a role model of a leader of a community, a person serving humanity and the environment, then thats Sydney DIANE ALDER Diane Alder and is a neighbour of mine. She keeps an eye on lots of elderly folk in the village of Oakley, taking them home made cakes and soup and doing some basic nursing tasks. Think she used to be a District Nurse before she retired. She also makes cakes for Teas in Church in the summer and collects and delivers some old peoples' newspapers. She's not letting coronavirus cramp her style and is still shopping and caring for elderly folk in the village. She also helps at Messy Church and delivers the Oakley Newsletter. It's a quarterly publication and we've just received the Spring edition. next issue due 1st June, deadline for publishing 22 May. JASON STRETTON I would like to nominate Jason Stretton for an award. I think he deserves to be recognized for being such a selfless person. Jason is above all, kind and caring for his fellow human beings. He has had a lot on his shoulders for years caring for a son with ADHD/ autism/aspergers but he always has time to sort other people's problems and help where ever be can. He has looked after both sets of neighbours over the years. One young man has epileptic seizures and Jason has been called on to help. He has always gone to him and put him in the correct position and stayed to see no harm came to him, despite the fact that Jason could return home covered in blood or vomit. Then there is his very elderly neighbours the other side. The man has Parkinson's and is very unsteady on his feet. He has had numerous falls and they call Jason for help and he willingly goes to pick him up, sometimes to put him back in bed at 11.00pm at night. The elderly lady had a fall recently and Jason again went to help pick her up and check what needed doing. The lady was not well and confused. They got her to hospital where she was kept, with sepsis. Then the old gentleman had another fall and cut his head. Jason got the paramedics and now he is in hospital, but Jason still found time to visit them to see how they were. He never once refused to help them despite having a wrist injury and it was in a support. Jason managed to lift them using his forearms. Jason has always looked out for elderly members of the family, making sure they have the best TV, phone, internet deals. He goes out of his way to explain things, clearly, calmly and with a great deal of patience and kindness. If he can make a difference to improve someone's life he will do it! Please email us your nominations on:[email protected]
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I feel that I should bring you up to speed as to what was 2019!! My colleague went travelling and decided to become a monk, I embarked on the a different journey. In December 2017, I visited Soweto Anti Aids Children’s Home in Kayole where I saw the state of the children’s clothes (see the picture above). This is when I saw the need to take action however small it might have been. I went back to the UK with a heavy heart and asked my friends to help me with the clothes that their children were not using. Word went round and through the power of social media I started getting calls from people all over Bedford. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the people as the clothes could not fit in my store. Thus, a local business lady offered me space in her shop as a dropping point. The clothes filled the whole store and I didn’t know how I was going to ship them back to Kenya. So, I decided to have a fundraising event on the 2nd of June 2018 to help raise funds to ship the clothes. Unfortunately, we did not reach the target amount on that day. A Charity called Tibbs Dementia Foundation found out that I did not reach my target amount and offered to raise the balance through coffee mornings. Initially, the clothes were meant for Soweto Anti Aids Children’s Home but the generosity from the people of Bedford made it possible for us to share with other children's homes. SOWETO ANTI AIDS CHILDREN’S HOME KAYOLE There was a big difference from my last visit in 2017. The home was founded by the late Mr Ishmael and Mrs Rev Egala who founded the home in 2010. Rev Egala started a food programme in a clinic where she would donate food stuff to the ladies who were HIV + and it started with a few mothers and word got round and more ladies joined the clinic where the board of governors decided to look for somewhere else. Mr Egala donated the land and decided that is where the children’s home should be built. The home has 45 orphans who are HIV positive or from parents who had HIV/AIDS. The home has recently been built through the help of Optiven Group Foundation and other donors. This home pioneered my vision to donate clothes and I hope to inspire more people to get out of their comfort zone and give back to the community. It could be as little as time, getting extra groceries, toiletries when one is buying their own, paying their water and electricity bills. If you want to assist, you contact Soweto Kayole Children's Home Contact persons Steven Egala +2547237073 HGiving Centre of Excellence When I decided to come back to Kenya to distribute the clothes, I asked friends back home to nominate other beneficiaries. Two weeks before my trip, I came across a YouTube video by Eric Ho. He was talking about his foundation, HGiving Centre Of Excellence in Webuye, Bungoma County. I reached out to his team and told them that I would be willing to donate some clothes to the home. Eric and his team of volunteers told me the dates they would be coming to Kenya from the 1st of February to the 10th of February 2019. The selection of my date of travel was determined by the day the shipment arrived in Kenya which was supported by a local shipping company (Kenya Exports) in the UK which has a branch in Uthiru, Kenya. The clothes needed sorting out and we opted to sort them out according to ages (0-3yrs, 4-10yrs and Above 10yrs). The centre has a total of 63 children, 14 of them are in boarding school. We were welcomed quite well at the centre both by the CEO, Paulyvia Grean and the volunteers who came with Eric Ho who had been there a week earlier. We joined the rest of the team of volunteers with Eric Ho,Kaina, Chloe, Louis, Aimie, Sven, Dan, Tjibaria and Olivia. There were organised activities as planned by Eric Ho and his team which we took part in achieving the day's goals, which included very competitive football and dancing. One of the things I noticed immediately was the children's love and interest in technology as they enjoyed taking selfies, photos and playing games. They knew how to access whatever they needed as long as the phone is unlocked and their innocent smiles were quite contagious. The compound The most outstanding structure was their dormitory built of stone funded by Eric and which had been recently painted by Eric and his team both on the inside and outside. They said it took them about 3 days to finish. They also decided to leave them with two major and important paintings, the Map of the World and the Kenyan Flag. This left an imprint not just on the walls but also within us. They were also given each a new mattress and beddings and at least a pillow and a mosquito net for each double-decker bed donated by one of the volunteers Sven Meijer . The whole room is divided into two so that one side is for the girls and the other for the boys. They couldn't hide their excitement as they previously used to sleep on a blanket laid on the floor and cover themselves. Jacqueline (who accompanied me) and I presented the children with the clothes we came with as well as their teachers and carers. Each of them changed into their new clothes without hesitation and their blissfulness could not only be seen but also felt. The other structures were classes which were made of clay soil. They have about 4 classrooms which have no adequate furniture considering they also have about 30 other children from outside the centre who come to learn there. There are about 5 teachers who need teachers'/students' books and stationery. The home has access to clean drinking water from a water well, poultry farming and they grow their own food from their farm. Their needs - books (Exercise, Textbooks, Teachers’ Guide, story books), stationeries, sanitary towels, food, infrastructure (classrooms, latrines, bathrooms) Follow the link to help them with what you can, it will be gratefully appreciated. www.hgiving.com/ A huge thank you to St James Lower school who donated their school uniform and Flitwick Eagles Football club who donated their last season football kit. EBENEZER RESTORATION CHRISTIAN CENTRE The home was founded by the Late Mary Wanjiku Kiarie. She was an Evangelist who had a calling to help children who were less fortunate or from struggling families who could not make ends meet. Her dream was to build them a home and teach them the Christian values. The children who are at the home are aged between 5-18 yrs both boys and girls. Once the young adults reach the age of 18yrs after form 4 (Secondary School) they are given a grace period of 3 months to start their life outside the home. Currently, the home has a total of 45 children. The home is ran by Virginia Kiarie with the support of her brothers as they keep their mother's legacy alive. The home is doing better than most homes I visited because whenever they get enough supplies especially for clothing and sanitary towels, they share them with the neighbours and other homes. Their needs - toiletries and detergents, uniform, school fees, school books and writing material and a school van as they walk a long distance to school. In the future, they’ll require more infrastructure to cater for dormitories, toilets and a tertiary institution to cater for those who are not accommodated in public universities. If you want to assist, contact Virginia Kiarie +254715 047 828 [email protected] KAMBUI PCEA WOMEN’S GUILD HOME FOR THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN The home was started in the 1990s by George Kariuki Wainaina who was a District assessor of all disabled children in Kiambu District. Mr Kariuki got intelligence of where the children who were left alone in their homes tied up in chains and he would educate the parents about how to care for their disabled children . Mr Kariuki had an intervention with the help of the local chief to help the parents understand the need to take the children to school. Some parents would come and take the children after they have finished school unfortunately not all get a chance to ever go back home. Currently, the home looks after 23 children. There are more children in vocational training, some in secondary school and also the university. On a positive side it was refreshing to learn that most of the children go to mainstream school and perform so well and are treated equally to other children. One of the children from the home had the highest marks despite being given the same time as the other students and got accepted to Thika High school which is one of the best High schools in Kenya. Their needs: Mattresses with mackintosh covers, beddings, beds, adults diapers, sanitary towels, wheelchairs, crutches, a dentist to check their cavities and general food essentials needs: This home has a high need for mattresses with mackintosh covers especially during rainy season and it takes a long time to dry beddings. Please contact the secretary Stanley Kairu +254729 056 980 Email: bedforshirecommunityawards.com if you would like to get involved in 2020 as we set to help achieve their needs. PURE HOPE INTERNATIONAL I met Sven Meijer at HGiving as one the volunteers who expressed his wish to help more orphans children. When he asked me be part of that journey together with his partner Sabrina I did not hesitate to say yes. Within a few months we had registered Pure Hope International as an NGO. Sven is the founder who funds the project with his own money as he saw the need was high. Pure Hope International identified a community that had a high need which included clean drinking water. The local newspaper The Daily Nation covered the story below.
The village located at the boundary of Kitui and Machakos counties in Masinga constituency has suffered years of neglect by successive administrations and the residents have always felt they are a forgotten lot. AILMENTS Mary Muuo, a teacher in the area, said mothers and children have always struggled with common ailments associated with water scarcity. “After exhausting the little rain water harvested from the roof, my husband who used to work in Nairobi had to bring home at least two 20-litre jerrycans for drinking and cooking every weekend because what was available locally was extremely saline,” said Mrs Muuo. In the age of bottled water, the story of a family in Ukambani preparing tea with water fetched hundreds of kilometres away in Nairobi sounds unbelievable but that was the sad reality facing residents of Mukengesya. “The only source of water in the village is a seasonal river that is five kilometres away but the water is too saline and unfit for human consumption,” said Mrs Muuo. This is why the residents could hardly believe it when two guests visited the remote arid village and sank a borehole. And after years of suffering, it was time to celebrate this week after the borehole sank in Mrs Muuo’s farm yielded fresh water. URGENT Dutch national Sven Meijer was touched by the plight of Mukengesya residents during his first visit to Kenya in March this year and decided to sponsor the drilling of a borehole. Mr Meijer, a real estate tycoon with business interests in London and The Hague was on a mission to establish a children’s home in Ukambani region with his Kenyan friend June Kuria. “I responded to a proposal by Mrs Muuo to establish a children’s home to take care of orphaned kids but when I visited area, the acute water shortage shocked me,” said the philanthropist. He said he found the situation so dire that the drilling of the borehole became more urgent than the project he had come for. From March, Mr Meijer whose charity work is done through Pure Hope International, a non-profit organisation, swung into action and engaged a local firm to do geological surveys and drill the borehole. This was completed during his second visit to the are in May after he footed the entire cost of the project. BURDEN And to the joy for Mukengesya community, the borehole which cost Sh1.7 million yielded enough water, a relief to more than 500 hundred households. The residents, who celebrated with song and dance, cannot thank Mr Meijer enough for easing the burden of water scarcity which Kenyan authorities had all but ignored. The philanthropist told the excited residents during the launch of the borehole that since the water situation had been taken care of, he can now continue with the construction of the children’s home. Mr Meijer said he wants to use his experience in real estate to establish a home for orphans that will be self-sustaining in production of food for the beneficiaries. Ms Kuria, a volunteer health worker based in London who brought Mr Meijer to Kenya, said it is very rare to find a person who is ready to use his own money to better the lives of the needy in the society. Ms Kuria thanked the locals for supporting the initiative by donating land for the proposed children home and the Machakos County government for facilitating the project. www.nation.co.ke/counties/machakos/Village-celebrates--first--fresh-drop-of-water-in-years/3444952-5278342-8nbmyw/index.html www.facebook.com/pages/category/Non-Governmental-Organization--NGO-/Pure-Hope-International-1309569342538801/ VISION 2020 PLANS FOR BEDFORDSHIRE COMMUNITY AWARDS There are so many unsung heroes in our community and with your help we can recognise them and appreciate their good deeds. Nominate someone or organisation who deserves it by emailing us at~; [email protected] We are aware that there are other organisations who recognise people and organisations we can all co exist. We wish you all a Happy New Year and prosperous 2020. Bedford came together on the 2nd of June to raise awareness and funds for shipping clothes to Soweto Children's home in Kenya. This event took place at the Bedford Athletics club Wentworth Drive. Last year I took an impromptu visit to Soweto (Kayole) in East of Nairobi when my family and I took food which included maize flour,rice, chapati flour, bread, sugar, bread, juice, biscuits and sweets however the sheer utter need for basic clothing left an a lasting impression and I felt I had to do more. When I came back I called all my friends and asked them them to give me all of their unwanted clothings and toys. This initiative got legs of its own and I got school uniforms and books from Brickhill Primary School with the help from Tabby Turner a PTA mum who mobilised the mums and the school to donate. St James Primary in Biddenham had Natasha Fox a school governor and her daughter Mary who were fundraising for a different charity and decided to mobilised the mums to donated their old toys and clothes for Soweto as well. Word of mouth is the best form of recommendation and I got donations of beddings and adults clothes for Soweto's carers from people from all corners of Bedford. The owner of Queens Park Electronics shop offered the back of her shop as storage which was of great help because I had ran out of space in my house.
At another event I spoke to Steve Spring who offered to help me find a venue for the benefit lunch. The aim of the lunch was to raise awareness and money to ship the clothes that I had collected. Bedford Athletics club offered the venue for FREE and people paid for a 3 course meal with entertainment with the aim of raising money from selling raffle tickets and auctioning some items. The La Rondine donated pizzas for the children and they helped publicise the event. Entertainment was diverse and eclectic included: Fusion youth choir, Tremaine Jazz musician, Albert the African act who mesmerised everyone with his act of eating fire, Pooja the Bollywood dancer, music 4 memory and the Kenya Community in Bedford group. The venue accomodated 135 adults who enjoyed a three course meal and helped raise One thousand one hundred and seventy four pounds (£1174) we needed to raise £2114.58 by Monday we had an anonymous donor who helped reduce the balance to £440.58. I feel confident that I will be able to get the target and if we surpass it, the plan is to personally deliver the clothes sorted by age and for each child to get their own clothes then take them out for a christmas party where they will be treated to a meal with a surprise from santa. A huge thank you to former NCS students who came from Houghton Regis, Daisy Smith, Abby Barkas and Georgia Barkas helped with looking after the children. ACCM staff and Rebecca Music 4 memory (Thursday group)who helped with registration and selling raffle tickets. Thank you to the dignitaries who took time out to come to the event: Mohamed Yasin (MP), Councillor Gianni Carofano and Councillor Colleen Atkins. I would like to say a A SPECIAL THANK YOU to Tibbs Dementia Foundation groups who after learning that I did not reach my target have been baking cakes and selling them to help raise the balance. Raffles prizes and auctioned items from: Val Fitzhugh, Dr Meera George and Isabell Muigai. The Anchor pub anchorbedford.co.uk/ Tavistock pub www.thetavistockpub.co.uk/ Three tuns pub www.thethreetunsbiddenham.co.uk The Great Denham golf club www.thebedfordgc.com/ The Cochin restaurant www.thecochinbedford.com/ Evan and son butchers www.evansbutchers.co.uk/ Rinaldi Hair studio rinaldihairandbeauty.uk/ faithinqueenspark.org.uk/fusion/index.php Havens Holiday - Caister on Sea www.haven.com/parks/norfolk/caister-on-sea/ www.stjamesbiddenham.com/ www.tibbsdementia.co.uk/ www.brickhillprimary.co.uk/ www.stjamesvalower.org.uk/ www.accmuk.com/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKmP6oYR8Fg La Rondine (Facebook) Tremaine At Tremmusic (Facebook) Random acts of kindness is one of the best attributes that Bedfordshire is known for. On my recent trip to Kenya I visited the Soweto Anti-Aids Children's Home which accommodates over 50 children aged 1-18 years who are victims of circumstances like parents who passed on due to HIV and AIDS, fathers who sired them and refused to take responsibilities and many other life tragedies that rendered them homeless. Someone might ask what has this got to do with us? I felt that there is something that we can do which is achievable and within our reach. Majority of our household will have old unwanted or outgrown clothes and items. We are looking for school uniforms, book bags, stationaries, clothes and beddings at the moment. The reason why we asking for school uniform as well as regular clothes is because it doesn't matter if the uniforms are different as they school in the same building as well as their home. |
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