Eid appeal 2013

As many of you already know, the vast majority of  people living in Algeria are Muslim and one of the most significant celebrations in the Islamic calendar is Eid ul Fitr, the event which marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting.

Eid is a time of great joy and celebration, it is a time when friends and family gather together, people eat delicious sweets and cakes and traditionally everyone wears new clothes-particularly the children.  It is an expensive time for everyone not least the poorer families.

For the past three years, at this time we have given sweets, toys and new clothes to hundreds of children living in Algiers. Last year we gave to just over 700 and this year, with your help we hope to give to even more.

As with previous years we will be distributing the gifts to children living within the community, to those sick in hospital and this time to children whose home is a women’s refuge.

So, how to help?

We need donations of sweets, small toys, balloons or anything else that children love!

You can give your donations in a number of ways:  If you live in London you might like to drop them off, further afield you will need to post them and if you live in Algiers you can phone to arrange a collection/ drop off – all of the contact details can be found here.   Or if you prefer, you can make an online monetary donation through the website or send a cheque.  No donation is too small and every item makes a difference.

*Eid will fall around mid August so donations made in the UK must be received by 1st July at the latest to ensure that they will arrive in time.

Spread a little happiness and make a child smile this Eid ul fitr!

It’s been a while…

It seems such a long time since I posted here, well actually it IS a long time since I posted here!

Lots has been happening to me personally, my family and I are planning a big move in the summer so really, every spare moment has been spent preparing for that. Along with a million other things that just seem to keep coming along……

`Anyway, despite my lack of reporting here, our lovely supporters have been as generous as ever- so many fabulous things have been arriving and the volunteers in Algiers have been working hard at distributing to those in need.

You may remember earlier in the year that we were fundraising for a wheelchair and thanks to your generosity two girls actually got chairs- here is one of them below with her new wheels. The girls and their families were over joyed!

Plans are moving steadily forward for getting the library up and running- the books are being shipped and other equipment is being bought- Exciting times! If you live in Algiers and would like to help with this project please do get in touch.

Details of our Ramadan / Eid gift appeal are just being finalised and once known I’ll let you all know.

Thank you so much for all your help and support.

Have a great weekend!

Emma x

Introductions

You may remember a while back I asked if anyone would like to help us by being a regional co-ordinator in their local area, well I’m very pleased to say that a lovely lady, who has been a long-time supporter of Algerian Action put herself forward to be a co-ordinator for Northamptonshire. So a very warm welcome to Carol- I know you will do an amazing job!

Regional co-ordinators will help us carry out our work more effectively and spread the word about Algerian Action and all that we do. If you would like to volunteer in this way and help where you live please get in touch ( info@algerianaction.co.uk ) and request an application form- we would love to hear from you.

If you live in Northamptonshire and would like to get in touch with Carol the email address is northants@algerianaction.co.uk

I am also very excited to introduce a corporate sponsor of our new travelling library project. ‘My Little Big Town’, a children’s book publisher that produce innovative and fun books for a variety of age groups have generously agreed to come on board and support our work. To find out more about the company please visit their website

Giveaway! ****closed************

As the regulars will know, this month is ‘bake for books’  month: where we are encouraging all and everyone to hold a coffee morning, tea party or any other event that involves cake to help us raise funds for our new library project………….. we are really hoping to buy some book trolleys!

     Anyway, as promised and to add to the fun we will be holding a few giveaways throughout the rest of March.

First up is a fabulous cookbook written by Edd Kimber (of Great British bake-off fame) The book, ‘Say it with cake’ is filled with over 80 show stopping recipes that are sure to delight even the most discerning tastebuds!

Featuring recipes from around the world, he includes, crowd pleasing cakes, biscuits, cupcakes,cheesecakes,meringues, pies, truffles, tarts and buns. The Author also shares several tips on decorating,assembly and presentation to help you make the most of your baking. The book is hard back,  has 192 pages and the most mouthwatering pictures.

To get your hands on our donated copy all you need to do is leave a comment in the box below telling us what your all time favourite cake is.

The giveaway is open to everyone worldwide and closes at 12.30pm (gmt) on Saturday 16th March. The recipient will be chosen randomly by an on-line generator.

So what are you waiting for?!

*UPDATE* …………………………………………….And the book goes to Mariel!!

I can’t seem to get the screen shot of the online generator here but, if anyone would like me to email it to them please let me know.

We did it!

 

I am so pleased to let you all know that we have now exceeded the target for our book collection. In just two months we have managed to accumulate a massive 1,023 books all of which are of excellent quality and fabulous condition.

Huge, huge thanks to all of you that have contributed!

It’s amazing to think that we are almost ‘there’: we have the books and now just need to buy some book trolleys before we can get started. To aid our fundraising efforts we are holding a ‘bake for books’ event throughout March and are requesting that as many people as possible hold a coffee morning, cake sale, afternoon tea …….basically anything cake related. We will also be holding a number of give-aways so do look out for some fab cookery books that will be up for grabs during March.

 

Just a week to go!

As  mentioned before,  Algerian Action will be participating in this year’s International Book Giving Day. For full details of the event take a look at their website where they have loads of info and a few snazzy book plates which are free to download.

We  will be joining in and spreading our love of books by distributing Book packs to children in El Katter Hospital (Algiers). Each pack includes a reading book, a colouring book, stickers and crayons.

To raise funds for our Travelling Library project we will also, FOR ONE DAY ONLY, be selling some unique, one of a kind bookmarks made from vintage books.

Lastly, we will be encouraging our supporters to donate books to our Travelling library. At the start of the year we had a target of 1000 books and after just a few short weeks we have almost reached it. We have just 124 more to collect- wouldn’t it be great if we could do that on International Book giving day. All books that are new or gently used are very welcome, we even have an Amazon wish list to make things easy!

Thank you so much for your support-hope to see you here in a weeks time!

International Book Giving Day 2013

Have you heard about International Book Giving Day? I hadn’t until a week ago. According to their site its all about getting new, used  and borrowed books into the hands of as many children as possible-which can only be a good thing. In my view the gift of a book is never a bad idea, especially when it’s given to a child who doesn’t have many or even any. International Book Giving Day is a volunteer led initiative with the purpose of increasing children’s access to books right around the globe. They aim to do this by encouraging people to give the gift of a book on February 14th.

It’s suggested that you could treat a friend or family member, secretly leave a book in a waiting room or (if you prefer something a little more sedate than ‘going in’ undercover) donate books  to a library, hospital or charitable organisation. Full details of the scheme can be found on their website along with some fab, free bookplates to download. 

So, how will Algerian Action be spreading the love on International Book Giving Day?

Well, we are planning to distribute children’s reading books along with colouring books and crayons to sick children staying in El Kettar Hospital, Algiers. These children are suffering from a variety of illnesses or are awaiting operations so could really do with cheering up -hopefully receiving a goody bag of books will do just that!

In addition, we will also be collecting books for our travelling library which is due to start operating this summer and will serve children in orphanages, hospitals and other community venues. Since starting our collecting campaign at the beginning of the year we have managed to accumulate almost 600 books which is just fantastic! Our target is 1,000 so  we are certainly getting there!

Mid month

I can’t believe that we are already more than half way through January- how time flies!

The Travelling library is one of our big projects for this year and it is scheduled to be operational this Summer. As I have mentioned before to make it all work we really need to have books (obviously!) and you lovely supporters haven’t let us down! Books sure have been dropping through the letter box at great speed. Our initial target is to have 1,000 books and just over two weeks into the year ,we have  got almost half that- which is just unbelievably fantastic!

In addition to the books, we need to get a couple of book trolleys something along the lines of these:

So to help us fund those, for the month of March we will be holding a ‘Bake for Books’ campaign where we are basically asking people to hold small cake related events among their family, friends or colleagues. A coffee morning, a bake sale, a tea party…..nothing large scale (unless you want it to be ) There will also be a few fun give-aways of baking related items which have already been generously  donated to us by a couple of companies. I hope you will participate- every £1 will make a real difference as it  will enable us to get the library up and running in the summer and begin providing this much needed service to children in hospitals, schools, orphanages and other community venues.

Other fab items and gorgeous baby packs have also been donated so, thank you for those too!

On another note, you may remember the little girl I mentioned in November that was unable to speak. Well on Sunday the Target of £2,000 was met and she will be having the operation done in the very near future. Thank you so much to those who contributed or bought the book: it’s wonderful to think that this little girl will now, not need to remain silent.

Have a great weekend everyone and as usual huge thanks for all of your help and support!

Time to spare?

 

Do you have some time to spare?

If so, would you be interested in using your time to help Algerian Action?

2013 is set to be a year of real growth for us and we have lots of exciting things planned but, we could really do with a few extra hands to make it all work.

We need people to help with research, admin and other computer based tasks- all which can be done from your very own home.

Our supporters come from all over the world with most being based in the UK and Algeria. Several people have said in the past that they  would like to have some local point of contact where they could drop off donations and meet fellow supporters so, this year we are looking to appoint a few volunteer regional co-ordinators and team members that could help us set that sort of thing up.  Could this be you?

If you are interested in giving your time please do get in touch – info@algerianaction.co.uk  we would love to hear from you!

Book Appeal

 

 

As I mentioned in a post last week, next year we will be operating a children’s travelling library in Algiers. We will be visiting children in hospitals, orphanages, schools and other community venues and giving them the opportunity to enjoy books that they would otherwise not have access to. We will  be holding storytelling and craft sessions too.

However, before we can open the doors we need to fill the shelves, and for that we really need your help!

Will you help us reach our target of 1000 books?

Books can be new or gently used. They must be suitable for children aged 0-14 years (not textbooks) and can be written in English or Arabic.  All titles are very welcome.

If you are able to help by donating a book the address to send donations to can be found here. In any case please spread the word and help us to  bring a travelling library to children in Algiers!

Huge thanks to  those people who  have already kick started  the appeal by sending books in.