Having started back in July as the new Fundraising Intern I am now happy to announce that I am working for           AbleChildAfrica as our first ever Administrative Assistant.

 

From helping to organise the Friends of AbleChildAfrica dinner and digitising our entire donor database whilst also starting a Masters in Human Rights at UCL and working another part-time job to fund it all, it's been a busy eight months for me!

 

Nonetheless, 2012 has meant a fresh new start and I will be continuing my work with AbleChildAfrica three days a week by providing administrative support to Jane, Katy, the trustees and our ever growing team of volunteers and interns. This means that I can continue updating and streamlining our expanding list of regular donors whilst also helping to put efficient procedures in place around the office. In turn, this alleviates the need for Jane and Katy to spend time on this work and means that they can get on with important tasks such as writing our new Strategic Plan and ensuring grant proposals can be submitted within their tight deadlines.  This also allows new members of our team, such as our two new Events interns who will be joining us in March, to spend less time on admin tasks and more time on projects which create real progress for AbleChildAfrica.

 

Looking to the future, I will be continuing my work with AbleChildAfrica alongside my studies and have already had some opportunities to combine the two by creating useful summaries on which UN and African Union documents relate to our work. I will also be joining the rest of our London Marathon team on April 22nd and with only 8 weeks to go now, training is well under way.

 

It's great to continue to be an on-going part of the team and I can't wait to see what the rest of 2012 will bring!

 

AbleChildAfrica has places available for two exciting events this summer:

Join the Heroes Run  in Brighton on the 20th May.  Dress up as your favourite superhero and run 5k in support of AbleChildAfrica. Children as young as 8 can participate - have a superhero family day out!

We have just 2 spaces remaining to join the AbleChildAfrica Nightrider team.  100k overnight cycle ride on the 9th June through the deserted streets of London- are you up for the challenge?

For more information about either opportunity please contact Nick McKensie on Nick@ablechildafrica.org.uk.

ANDy is continuing to deliver it's innovative Sport for Change programme in Nairobi, Kenya. In May they will celebrate the project's first anniversary! The programme offers opportunities for economic empowerment as well as regular sports clubs to improve young disabled people's self esteem, confidence, health and life chances. It is a sad fact that less than 5% of young disabled people in Nairobi are employed.

 

Rupert (pictured right) is currently enrolled in the Sports for Change programme, below he tells us more about how he has benefited from being involved. He learned of the programme from a friend who encouraged him to approach ANDY to find out more about opportunities for young people with disabilities. 

"When I enrolled in the Sport for Change programme, and in particular, the wheelchair basketball team, I made friends really easily. Since then my time keeping skills and fitness levels have increased, every time I leave the sessions my mind and body are at rest. I have also participated in the entrepreneurship trainings offered by ANDy and learnt how to develop my CV for employers. Through the Work Place program, I have now secured an internship within the government at the Office of the Director of the Public Prosecution. I am working in the accounts department, I enjoy my job and I can apply some of the skills I learnt at the ANDy trainings"  

  

For more information on ANDy's work please visit our website: http://ablechildafrica.org/our-partners/andy/