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

A fantastic month!

I know we are almost half way through March but, I have been away for the last ten days and didn’t get a chance to round up the month before I went away.  So, here we are a very brief recap on what happened in Feb:

Well, the most fantastic news of all was that we reached our target of 1,000 books! We are now almost in the position of being able to start the library- we still need to get the book trolleys but we are well on target for ‘opening’ in the Summer.

Continuing the book theme, we also participated in international book giving day on February 14th.

Lots and lots of fabulous items were also donated including toys, toiletries, blankets and clothing and craft materials, below is just a small selection of things given by our supporters in February.

As always, huge enormous thanks for all of your help and support. Have a marvellous March everyone!

**Urgent**

I loved school: the friends, the fun (kind of) but most of all the learning. I loved to learn, I still love to learn.

Yesterday I was told about a teenage girl who also loves to learn, who also loves school but, who is no longer able to go. This is not a tale of neglect  or of parents that can’t be bothered, on the contrary, this girl has a father who adores her. A father that adores his daughter  so much that he carried her to and from school from the age of 6 until she was 13. Yes, CARRIED.

You see this girl is disabled and unable to walk , her family don’t even have enough money to eat properly never mind enough to buy a wheelchair. Yet, because this man wanted his daughter to experience school just the same as every other child  in the neighbourhood, for seven years he carried her to and from school five days a week- only stopping because her weight simply became too much to bear.

It seems such a tragedy that a child who wants to go to school is denied the opportunity simply because she was born into poverty……. and happens to be disabled. A wheelchair costs £200, in the grand scheme of things it’s a small sum but, for this family it’s an impossible amount.

Can you help us to help her?

A wheelchair would be such a tremendous gift to give this girl. Will you help us to raise £200 to give that gift?

As always, any help is greatly appreciated.

*Edit*  Donations can be made online via paypal using the address algerianaction@london.com or by sending a cheque (made payable to Algerian Action) to the usual address.

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!

Something new

We have a big project for next year. It’s something new and very exciting.

It’s been at the planning stage for a while now but,like everything new that we embark on in life there is a lot to do and think about.

Wait for it, are you ready?. …………well, we will be operating a travelling library!

We will be travelling around Algiers visiting hospitals, orphanages, schools and children in the community. We will be giving these kids the opportunity to regularly look at a variety of books that they would otherwise not have access to. We will do fun story telling sessions and a good dose of craft related activities too. We want these children to have lots of fun but to also do a spot of learning at the same time.

Could you help us with this?

Well firstly, what we really need is books:_

They must be in either English or Arabic.

They can be gently used or new.

They must be suitable for ages between 0 -14 years.

They must not be text books.

All titles are of course very welcome but just in case you need some inspiration and ideas I have compiled an Amazon wish list of just a few books that would be suitable. That list can be found here  

We also need craft related items- pencils, crayons and children’s scissors that can be used for the activities.

To gather books for our currently empty shelves, we will  also be organising a number of book drives and other activities, I hope you will join in the fun

Oh, and if you have any ideas please do share-I would really love to hear them!

As always, thank you all so much for your support!

December

Lots of fabulous things have arrived over the past week. Including beautiful blankets for the baby pack project, as a knitter that gets bored easily I know how tedious blanket knitting can be so these are extra appreciated and as our supply of blankets is running low they are really needed at the moment. The super snuggly pink fleece ones are just lovely too.

Lots of clothing and toys have also been donated.

We are busy collecting warm winter clothing for needy children at the moment. Thanks to your generosity we have already parcelled up 410 items of warm winter clothing which will be shipped over this week. We are still collecting and are urgently in need of jackets, coats, jumpers ect in all sizes but things are especially needed  for children aged 4- 8 years . The next shipment will leave on 22nd December so if you can help in any way please do so a.s.a.p.

As always, thank you so much for your generosity and support!

Have a great week

Emma x

Have you bought it yet?

 

If you haven’t already bought a copy of the cookbook then please do. Not only will you get a collection of delicious tried and tested recipes but you will be helping needy children and families living in Algeria too.

All proceeds raised from today until the end of the year will go towards helping a little girl have an operation that will enable her to speak. Her parent’s are trying everything to raise the cash themselves but in reality it will take years for them to raise the £2,000 they need.

More info on the book can be found here. it costs just £5.99 and postage is free to addresses in the UK and Europe. It can be ordered here.

So please, buy a book and help us give this little girl a chance to say her first words.

***EVENT CANCELLED***

Sincere apologies but the event scheduled to take place this Saturday has been cancelled due to a number of circumstances it will be impossible to hold the art and craft funday this weekend but, it will be rescheduled for  date later in the year. 

Apologies once again.

Thank you for your understanding at this time.