My Summer Project!

I was about to call this post "A Shamless Plug" but thinking about it, it may be more relevant to My Teaching Story than I first thought...

"I'm raising as much money as possible for Kenyan Orphan Project because all children have a right to health and education."

The Kenyan Orphan Project (KOP) exists to support orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya on issues of health, education and social welfare, fighting poverty, disease, social exclusion and injustice. The charity was founded by Nottingham graduates in 2001 to improve the lives of some of the world’s most impoverished orphans and vulnerable children by providing them with food, education and health care. In the last 12 years, KOP has expanded to other universities and students across the country have been involved in establishing a hospital, a health clinic, two primary and one secondary schools, two community/feeding centres and a support and rehabilitation centre for street children all in the Nyanza province in western Kenya .

KOP’s key objective is to make long-term, sustainable changes to communities, which will benefit them for years to come. Through the projects we undertake whilst we are in Kenya, we are able to make a very real and lasting difference to the lives of so many people whose lives have been destroyed by AIDs. The people we help live in desperate poverty, and struggle on a day to day basis.

  

When I signed up for this project, I didn't particularly think about how this experience would affect my teaching, however, the more I think about it, there are many parallels between the Kenyan Orphan Project and the aims of Teach First. I am not tarring these charities with the same brush, however it is undeniable that both projects that I am involved in have a united goal; that is to stand up to disadvantage and give children, whatever their background may be, the opportunity and the potential to be whatever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do. The crippling circumstances in Kenya cannot be compared to those of the UK; however it is important to realise that children are suffering all over the world; how can we allow this to happen when we have the means to help them. Teach First is all about creating opportunity for young people, and is what I will spend the next two years (attempting!?) to do. As I finish my undergraduate degree and face the world ahead of me, what better way to begin my journey into the world than by recognising, and subsequently helping people who will never get the same opportunities that I have been lucky enough to enjoy. This once in a lifetime opportunity will stay with me forever, and I hope it will have a positive influence on my teaching next year.

So I have taken up the challenge to raise as much money as possible for disadvantaged children in Kenya. We will be fundraising throughout the year, and in August we're going to travel to Kenya for a few weeks, to witness for ourselves exactly how the money we raise is put to use, meet the children who are directly affected by our fundraising, and get involved with projects which will ultimately change these children's lives. 

100% of the money we raise goes directly to Kenya, I am funding the trip myself, and therefore ALL of the money raised will be put straight into the various projects - I have a personal fundraising target of £800, and would be extremely appreciative if you could donate to help this cause! Every penny counts so please, dig deep and donate anything you can afford! One in three children are orphaned as a result of AIDs in Western Kenya, without our help these children are destined to a life of poverty, disease and injustice.

Many of you have already donated and I cannot thank you enough!

Please take the time to visit my JustGiving page, donating is straightforward and secure. http://www.justgiving.com/Danielle-Richards2
You can even donate by text! Just text DARI91 (+the amount you would like to donate) eg. DARI91 £X to 70070! 
  

If you have any questions about my project, please don’t hesitate to contact me, my email address is d.richards@warwick.ac.uk

THANKS!!!

We booked our flights last week, and it is all getting very real!! The scariest realisation was that by the time we jet off for Kenya, not only will I have raised lots of money for an amazing charity, I will have done my final exams, graduated, and completed my summer training for Teach First, when I get back I will have about 10 days to sort my life out before I start my career as Miss Richards. Wow. 2013 is going to be quite a year!!! 

January Blues

So when I intended to start a blog, I didn't account for the ridiculous work load of 4th year getting in my way. I realise I have been a bit slow on the old posting, but will try and keep it up!

During my time at university, whenever I have complained about any work I have do to, there is always a finalist within hearing who shut me up with "You wait until you're in final year", and to be honest I never really believed that my final year would be THAT much different from 1st or 2nd year? Well i'm here, and it is, and unfortunately I have become that condescending finalist!

The question that keeps cropping up is: 'Do I have that much more work to do?" or "Am I just taking it all more seriously this year?" - and to be honest, I think it is a mixture of the two. I only have the same amount of modules as in previous years, and some of my English modules are open to 2nd year students, so it can't be that the modules (in the English department at least) are any harder. What I can only think is that my attitude has changed. I couldn't imagine going to a seminar having not read the book - which we did all the time in 1st and 2nd year, a night in Smack would have taken precedence over finishing the last chapters of a book, and if I could get away with reading an English translation of my German books I would. (Awkward moment when one of my German lecturers stumbles across this - sorry in advance :-)) Not now. It's nearly week three, I have been back at uni for a month now and am yet to have a night out, I have already read 5 novels, some in German, written 10,000 words, done all my seminar homework, attended every class and still have another 5000 word essay to write before everything calms down again. Reality has set it and the end is in sight. Yes we have longer essays to write (5000 instead of 3000), and yes our final language exams are double weighted, and yes the grades I get this year determine what I might do for the rest of my life. But i'm trying not to get too bogged down in it all - after all, they say your years at uni are the ones you'll never forget, and I'm sure once these essays are handed in, the hard work will be forgotten :)

So I guess this is a post, less about teaching, but more about being a finalist at uni - I just hope the old saying 'Hard work pays off' actually comes off this time :)