Aid Children's Health & Education in 5 Countries

Thank you for supporting this project, the "Impact Fund". Your help is making such a difference for the children and young people we work with around the world. In this update, we share with you some news about the children you have helped and how your donations will continue to help.

You have helped Dora and Elizabeth at New Life in Ghana. Dora grew up at New Life's home and is now taking a three-year vocational course on wedding decorations and sewing. Your contributions from the Impact Fund will provide her with a stipend for food for the next six months.

Elizabeth is a toddler, born to teenage parents. She lives with her mother and her family in a small village near New Life. Your donations have helped with her basic needs for this past school year, as well as covering the cost of her place at New Life's school, including educational materials and school lunches. This is giving her a better start to life.

You have also helped Casa Mea, a residential home in Romania, to keep going. The children and teenagers are all doing well. They have finished the school year and all are advancing into the next grade. A new girl, Simona, aged 15, came to live at Casa Mea last month. She is in the same class as Ana, one of the other girls at Casa Mea. Both Ana and Simona will be doing accountancy internships over the summer. In Romania, the final year of primary school is eighth grade. Cristina has just finished primary school and will be going to the local high school. She is 15 and, on Saturdays, she has been enjoying learning how to cut hair in a nearby salon. She hopes to do more work experience over the summer. Vlad is the oldest and he has just finished vocational school. He will be deciding what to do, whether it is continuing with his education or finding employment, in the near future. Raul is 14 and has just finished sixth grade. He has also completed two years of music lessons and he received a very high grade. He is a keen footballer and plays with a local young team. Thirteen-year-old twins, Livia and Stelian, will be going into eighth grade next year and the youngest, Robert, has just finished fourth grade.

At the end of eighth grade, children in Romania take an exam which determines where they will go to high school. Stelian would like to go to high school in the nearby city of Brasov, and will need a very good grade for this. Felicia, who manages Casa Mea, has asked if we can help with maths tuition for Stelian. This would cost around £379 for the year. So far, we have raised £284. If we struggle to raise the final £95 needed, we hope to be able to use future contributions to the Impact Fund to help with this.

We are also currently trying to raise funds to support the integration programme at Challenging Heights in Ghana. Challenging Heights rescues, rehabilitates and advocates for children trafficked into the fishing industry. They have asked us for help with £1000, which will help towards reuniting children with their families and offering them ongoing, holistic help. This will allow them to return to school, move on with their lives and to keep safe, so that they are not in the position of being trafficked again. As we are a small charity, it can be difficult to raise funds. However, our partner organisations are doing such great work. Any contributions, over the next month or so, may also help with supporting the wonderful, and vital, work being done for children at Challenging Heights.

Thank you very much for caring about the children and youth at our projects. It is so great that you are making such an impact for them.

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With thanks to Derrick and James at New Life, Jan and Felicia at Casa Mea and Jonathan and Willow at Challenging Heights for the updates and photos included in this report.

By supporting this project, the Impact Fund, you can be sure that your contributions will go towards helping disadvantaged children and youth overcome some of the barriers they face in life. Recently, your donations have helped with children and young people's education in Ghana, enabled a girl with disabilities in Argentina to have access to horse-assisted therapy and assisted organisations providing homes for children in Romania and Ghana.

New Life, in Ghana, runs a children's home, school and outreach programme. Two of the young people who grew up at New Life's home, Isaac and Dora, are currently taking their next steps in life. Isaac is studying Mechanical Engineering at a local college and Dora is doing an apprenticeship in wedding sewing and decorations. Whilst some of CHW's supporters have funded their course fees, we needed help with continuing to provide Isaac and Dora with stipends for food and educational materials. Contributions from the Impact Fund have gone towards this and we are so grateful for your help for these young people.

Isaac said, "We have been on trips two times this semester and all were fantastic. I will be completing my course by the end of June this year. So far so good, the academic work has been good. I appreciate all you have been doing for me."

Challenging Heights, also in Ghana, rescues and advocates for children who were trafficked into the fishing industry. The rescued children are brought to a shelter for rehabilitation, before being helped to integrate back into society. The shelter has a school with a computer lab. Challenging Heights previously asked CHW for help with a router and internet system for the computer lab. Some donations from the Impact Fund helped us to complete the fundraising for this project. The new system is now in place.

Jonathan at Challenging Heights said that internet-based teaching and learning is taking place and that the internet connection also helps staff complete work to do with the running of the shelter. Sixty-four students, who are survivors of human trafficking, are now able to use the internet to learn.

Some donations to the Impact Fund also helped CHW to complete the funding to sponsor horse-assisted therapy sessions for seven-year-old Briana, in Argentina. Briana has spastic quadriplegia and is benefitting, both physically and emotionally, from having this therapy at our partner organisation, Fundación Cordobesa de Equinoterapia. Veronica, the founder of the organisation, said she is very touched that people from so far away are helping Briana.

CHW's supporters were recently able to sponsor a power generator for New Life's children's home in Ghana, with some of the donations coming from the Impact Fund. New Life had asked CHW for help with this due to the frequent power cuts in the area. There will now be a stable power supply at the home. Thank you for helping to make this possible.

We also want to thank you for supporting the children at the home Casa Mea in Romania. CHW was trying to find funds to sponsor the running costs of the home, until their situation stabilised. Things are now looking a lot better for Casa Mea and for the children's future. Thank you for helping Casa Mea, through the Impact Fund, during their time of need.

CHW is a small charity and every penny you donate really counts! Our partner organisations are doing great work. Thank you for being a part of this and for making a difference in the lives of children and young people around the world.