Whats been happening since October?!

Where does the time go?

Last time I updated the blog, James was about to start his epic cycle from John o' Groats to Lands End. Unfortunately, his friend dropped out and by the time he reached Preston his knee had given out completely. it was still an amazing thing that he did and he raised £60 for ABANA and plans to complete the journey one day soon.
Bad news from Comic Relief - they turned down our request for a grant to build sports' facilities at the school on the grounds that the project wasn't sustainable. I wont give up though there are many other large charities I intend to turn to - the school needs so much. The trouble is, applying for a grant is so time consuming!
The school has now sent me a series of smaller projects and a strategic plan which we might be able to obtain some help with;
We have continued to sell the wonderful Akabanga - via Ebay and also I was allowed to sell some at Lakeland where we raised £25 and at the school in Blackpool where I have just done a terms' work, I raised a further £45.

The wonderful Sonia has just completed a 10k run and she has raised the amazing sum of £150 and counting!!
Valerie, one of our students in Rwanda has just sent some more lovely earrings for us to sell.
I recently had a rather significant birthday and several friends donated money to ABANA to mark it - I am so grateful to everyone who takes the time to find out about us and help us; The smallest amount of money can do so much;.
We are now able to help a number of students who would otherwise be unable to continue with their education and whose only alternative would be to stay at home and help their families to subsist.
All the students that we help are so grateful for what we are doing - they dont take anything for granted and in fact they work as hard as they possibly can to show us how grateful they are. They know that there are many people thinking about  them and this gives them confidence and a feeling of self worth which many rwandans dont have.
Here is part of a letter from Jean Bosco Nzeyimana from April 4th:
i really appreciate how your presence comfort me and I will never cease to thank all those generous people who have accepted to do something.I can stand somewhere and say something, this is because of people like you and my parents who didnt give up to give me a hope
April is a very sad time in Rwanda - the anniversary of the 1994 Genocide and I know that every single Rwandan is suffering in some way. This years' theme for the commemoration of the Genocide is -
LET'S LEARN FROM OUR HISTORY TO BUILD A BRIGHT FUTURE   

ABANA with your help is helping them to do this    THANK YOU
www.charitygiving.co.uk/abana