Blog

Help Turn the Desert Green and Bring Life to Darfur

Climate change is top of the agenda world wide, but nowhere is it more harshly felt than in Darfur, where the Sahara is creeping south inexorably. Darfur is at the forefront of global warming with temperatures soaring to over 50 degrees in the summer months. All surface water evaporates by February each year, leaving the land parched and scorched. Land that was green with trees and water early last century is now a desert for most of the year.   How can families possibly survive? What can be done? Kids for Kids has been planting drought-resistant trees for vital shade for children and animals and community forests in villages since 2007 when we were the first organization to experiment with reintroducing the Baobab tree. One of the first we planted is now called the Love Tree of Darfur as people carve their initials and hearts into it. We renovated the tree nursery in El Fasher and planted a demonstration garden to educate the villagers on the benefits of trees. Our demonstration garden in El Fasher the regional capital is the only Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Dame Joanna Lumley – at last!

Huge congratulations to our wonderful Patron, Joanna Lumley OBE, who has been made a Dame in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.   “Joanna’s work with often little known charities is exceptional” says our Founder Patricia Parker OBE. “If anyone deserves to be honoured it is dear Joanna.   I hope she will not mind my saying that it is not just her name which she gives to Kids for Kids, but she is enormously generous to us too, and I know we are one of many charities she supports.   Joanna is loved across the country and rightly so.  This honour is long overdue and there could not be a more deserving, unassuming, lovely person to become a Dame.” Joanna Lumley has  been honoured for services “to drama, entertainment and charity” and we cannot thank her enough for everything she has done to support Kids for Kids over the years. During lockdown recently, Joanna led our ‘Draw a Goat for Darfur’ children’s competition with her beautiful ‘Dandy’ Goat to help us entertain children here, but it is her indefatigable support for children Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

The Gift of Water – 13 New Hand Pumps drilled

If this isn’t THE MOST FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS PRESENT we don’t know what is!   At last at last at last ….. we have been encouraging the Water & Sanitation Department to drill these handpumps for months and months. You cannot begin to imagine how amazing it feels to give the gift of Water to our villages in Darfur. Take a look at this wonderful video showing just when water was struck..! Can you help change lives forever and give children and their families access to clean, fresh water? Not only will there be life-giving water available for themselves and their animals but also, with a hand pump close by, children no longer need to spend days walking under the hot desert sun to reach water which is often miles away from their village. Instead they have time to attend our kindergartens, gain an education and can dream of a future out of poverty. Gift a hand pump today and you will change lives not only now but for generations to come. Donate to our water projects here and give the gift of life.

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Candlelit Christmas Concert Brings International Friends Together Again

Did you miss our Candlelit Christmas Concert this year? Here’s a little snippet and there’s a link to the whole magical experience further below..! Joanna Lumley OBE, Timothy West CBE, Lord Cope of Berkeley PC, Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Cheng and friends help spread Christmas cheer across the globe and raise vital funds for the forgotten children of Darfur. After the success of last year, Kids for Kids took the magic online once again to share a celebratory mulled wine and mince pie live on Zoom with international friends and enjoy the beautiful Candlelit Christmas concert, filmed earlier this month in St Peter’s Church, London. Patricia Parker OBE, Founder of Kids for Kids, was delighted to welcome supporters from all over the World including Malta, Norway, Albania, Australia, the USA and, of course, Sudan! “It was such a treat to welcome our supporters and wonderful Patrons – many of them friends for of our 20 years –  surrounded by flickering candles in their own homes, and to raise a glass with everyone across the globe” said Patricia. The live concert, Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Online Concert Brings International Friends Together Again

Did you miss our Candlelit Christmas Concert this year? Here’s a little snippet and there’s a link to the whole magical experience further below..! Joanna Lumley OBE, Timothy West CBE, Lord Cope of Berkeley PC, Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Cheng and friends help spread Christmas cheer across the globe and raise vital funds for the forgotten children of Darfur. After the success of last year, Kids for Kids took the magic online once again to share a celebratory mulled wine and mince pie live on Zoom with international friends and enjoy the beautiful Candlelit Christmas concert, filmed earlier this month in St Peter’s Church, London. Patricia Parker OBE, Founder of Kids for Kids, was delighted to welcome supporters from all over the World including Malta, Norway, Albania, Australia, the USA and, of course, Sudan! “It was such a treat to welcome our supporters and wonderful Patrons – many of them friends for of our 20 years –  surrounded by flickering candles in their own homes, and to raise a glass with everyone across the globe” said Patricia. The live concert, which Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Together at last – best Candlelit Christmas Concert ever?

After  so long apart, our Candlelit Christmas Concert this year was more moving than ever!  Tears and smiles mingled as celebrities and supporters alike celebrated 20 years of Kids for Kids and our 20th concert! If you missed it, here is a little snippet to whet your appetite and the link to the full concert is further below…! Joanna Lumley OBE, Timothy West CBE, the Lord Cope of Berkeley PC, Julian Lloyd Webber OBE and his amazingly talented Cellist wife Jiaxin Cheng all helped raise £2,723.35  on the night.   This is an important figure – if we can raise a further £9,777 BEFORE 11th DECEMBER two anonymous donors will DOUBLE IT.    Please help!   This would be an astonishing £25,000 in total – and would enable us to adopt an entire village, helping over 500 children to a better future long term.   Please please help.  Every pound will make a difference! “It was so special to be able to celebrate the start of the festive season together once again at the beautiful St Peter’s Church in London,” said Patricia Parker, Founder Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Reverse Advent Calendar – True Meaning of Christmas

MAKE ADVENT MORE MEANINGFUL Everyone loves counting down the days to Christmas but this year why not make advent much more meaningful? Teach your little ones the true meaning of Christmas and encourage them to help those less fortunate than themselves. With our Kids for Kids’ Reverse Advent Calendar, you can choose a different Gift for Darfur from 1st – 24th December and make a real difference to young lives. DOUBLE THE DIFFERENCE Not only that but this year, thanks to two very generous supporters, all donations received will be DOUBLED until we reach our target of £25,000! So you donate ONE goat…it becomes TWO! You donate TWO trees…they become FOUR! You will be making DOUBLE THE DIFFERENCE! GIFT A PERSONALISED CERTIFICATE For every Gift you donate to Darfur, you can choose a personalised Gift Certificate to gift to a friend or family member this Christmas. So you’re making DOUBLE THE DIFFERENCE to young lives in Darfur & GIVING CHRISTMAS GIFTS to loved ones at the same time! What could be a more perfect way to teach your children the importance of Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

CHRISTMAS IS COMING – it really is!

At last we can celebrate together. Do join me at our beautiful Candlelit Christmas Concert and herald in this wonderful time of year as it should be, together again after such hard times. If you cannot join us in person we are recording it and can ‘meet’ online – but it is not the same, as I am sure you have all found when, after many months, we have a last been with people we love.  My heart goes out to you who have lost someone precious. If you have been struggling alone in these difficult months, perhaps it has also made you count your blessings? Being alone with time to think has made me even more determined to reach out to help children facing lives of intolerable hardship, yet with parents with the same hopes we have for our families. No matter where we  are born we continue to prove that it is possible to help, one child at a time. No problem is too big if we tackle it step by step. The world seems to have become Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Still Waiting for the Rains in Darfur…

Tragically, the news in Darfur is that in some parts there has been no sign of rain and the intense heat continues, in others there are floods which are washing away the seedlings that people have had to already plant. I’m sure you know that Darfur is the size of France, so you can understand the extremes. The result, of course, if this continues will be starvation for families who have no way of diversifying from their subsistence crops. It gives you an indication of the importance of animals and in the extreme conditions of Darfur, goats are the ones we can rely on when all others fail. It has been such a worrying year with so many catastrophes combining to cause extreme hardship. Many families have been forced to eat the seed they had saved. We are therefore appealing, in addition to all of our much-needed projects, for emergency seed to enable families to plant so that they have something to feed their families in 2022. But it will be months before any harvest and meanwhile, children are hungry. Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago

Shaun runs London Marathon for Kids for Kids

We would like to say a huge congratulations to Shaun Gorvin & his wife Lucy for completing the London Marathon last Sunday. Hearing of Challenge20 and having obtained a place in the London Marathon through the ballot system, Shaun could think of no better cause than to try and raise some money for Kids for Kids. Shaun’s time was 4 hours and 52 minutes, with Lucy beating him by just 30 seconds! It was Shaun and his wife Lucy’s first marathon. Lucy is an NHS psychologist and when working with cardiac patients four years ago decided she should practice what she preached and start exercising. Shaun joined her on the ‘couch to 5k App’ and realising the physical and psychological benefits of running, has gradually built up the miles too. With regular Parkrun and other organised events, he feels running is now very social and much more fun than anticipated! During the run they were cheered on by friends and family, and even managed to spot their grandchildren in the crowd! In total, Shaun has managed to raise a HUGE Read more

By Charlotte Allum, ago