“You’re off to great places, today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” Dr Suess
S e p t e m b e r
In countries all around the world, this month brings forth a brand new academic year as summer break draws to a close and a fresh autumn term draws near. By September, the back-to-school rush is in full swing as ‘that time of year’ begins again. If you’re a parent, or perhaps you’re going back to school yourself, you’ll know that the beginning of this season will look a lot like shuffling around retail stores, trying on school trousers and searching the shelves for the best lunch boxes. It consists of filling backpacks to the brim with pencils, pens, notepads, instruments, books and well, as many items as possible. If you live in the UK, you’ll know that billboards will be painted with the usual ‘Back to School’ advertisements and promotions as brands and retailers focus on their ‘Back to School’ campaigns, working hard to develop new strategies and tactics to increase sales opportunities. In 2016, BTS spending season was in fact the second-largest consumer spending season behind the Christmas holidays.
Worldwide, many parents and guardians face countless costs for education including school fees, uniform, meals, medication and learning resources such as books and stationary. Statistics show that in Zimbabwe, though many children are able to enrol and attend primary school, nearly half (47% of boys and 48% of girls) are not able to attend secondary school. It’s difficult to imagine, come the first day of school, sitting down and telling your son or daughter that they cannot go to school anymore as the cost is just too high. Can you imagine having to make the choice of either sending your son or daughter to school? Or having to explain to them that at age 11, one of them will have to start working and earning for the family. This reality is tough and has compelled us to take action.
As a charity, we work and strive to lift as many children as we can out of poverty by providing them with access to education. Our mission, day-by-day, is to reduce statistics, provide opportunity and create better futures by stopping for and noticing the ones. By sponsoring a child with Creating Better Futures, you will provide them with:
- Access to education
- School uniform
- Two meals a day
- Clean water
- Medical care
- A one to one relationship
For £18 a month (which is just 60p per day) you will care for and create a better future for a child, which I think is pretty special. With your help, 177 children have now been sponsored with CBF. This in itself has had a profound impact:
Liberty Mupotsa is one of our CBF sponsored boys. This is a message from his grandmother who cares for him, translated from Shona.
“I want to thank the Lord for providing an education for my grandson through Creating Better Futures. May God continue to shower you with blessings. Without this sponsorship, my grandson would not be able to go to school. I want to say may you continue with this good work. Thank you.”
Mr and Mrs Mvududu are the grandparents and guardians of Tashongedzwa, one of our lovely CBF sponsored girls. This is their message to you:
“We are so thankful for the help with school fees from Tashongedzwa’s CBF sponsors. As Mr Mvududu is of very poor health, he can no longer contribute towards the upkeep of our granddaughter, meaning that without your help, our granddaughter could not attend school. Tashongedzwa is an intelligent little girl who has immensely benefited from CBF. We wish that her sponsors lived near to us so that we could truly thank them in person. We are so thankful that we are at a loss for words.”
