What is the Peace Centre?

The Peace Centre provides for orphaned children, situated in Bukinda, south west Uganda. The centre supports children who are genuinely needy, and go through a rigorous background checking process to ensure this. The vast majority of the children who attend the Peace Centre are double orphans who have no immediate family. Typically their parents have died of AIDS, and most of the children are two or more years behind in school because they have not been able to afford the fees elsewhere.

The goal of the Peace Centre is to:

"to ensure love, care and a home for each of our children, so that they are educated, healthy young people who can be successful in life."

See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnffbCACF-I

Each year we held an annual Peace Centre Quiz which saw many people from the community come together to support the organisation. This involved an interactive connection with students and staff at the Peace Centre. With the help of our teachers we planned and organised a schedule for a visit to Bukinda and the Peace Centre in 2019 after flying into Entebbe Airport in Kampala. We planned a series of activities and tasks to do with the children at the orphanage which included:

1. Accompanying school age children to school by walking with them across the valley

2. A reading and writing programme

3. Games and activities ranging from different sports to creative arts

4. Building a trampoline area

5. Landscaping some of the Peace Centre Gardens

6. Helping cook for the children

7. Cleaning and maintaining the Peace Centre dormitories.

The location of the Peace Centre in Uganda is quite close to the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Unfortunately when we were visiting the Peace Centre in June 2019, there was an outbreak of Ebola in DRC. This was quite stressful as we did not know if this would affect us. It was decided that we should return to Shanghai ealier than planned so the visit was cut short by a few days. Whilst I understood that our safety was a priority, it felt terrible leaving the children of the Peace Centre who did not have the opportunity to escape a threat like this.

My family and I are still connected to the Peace Centre by involvement in their donation scheme, and one day I hope to return.

What is Phuket SOS Children's Village?

SOS Phuket Children's Village was dedicated to His Majesty the King on the occasion of his 80th birthday anniversary in 2007, and aims to solve and alleviate the problem of homeless children in society by extending assistance to Phuket and neighboring provinces. The SOS Phuket Children's village largely supports orphans from the earthquake and tsunami disaster that impacted Phuket on December 26, 2004. 

Located at 90 Moo 2, Koh Kaew Subdistrict, Muang District, Phuket Province 83000, can accommodate 120 children. SOS Phuket Children's Village is the fifth village built in 2007 on an area of ​​10 rai by constructing 12 mother and child homes, kindergarten buildings, libraries, office buildings, staff house director's house and hospice.

See more here: https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/where-we-help/asia/thailand/phuket

My involvement

Whilst at the British International School Phuket I was a member of the Service Team who welcomed Phuket SOS children to our school each week. As part of the team we planned activities that were fun and engaging for the children who were aged approximately between 3-6 years old. The activities usually involved play and used the facilities at our school - eg Playground equipment; toys; sand pit etc. 

In the Service Team we shared responsibility for organising the activities fairly. It was fulfilling to see that the children had fun whilst visiting our school and made use of facilities that they would not normally experience.

to 

What is Shanghai Healing Home?

Shanghai Healing Home is a non-profit organization that cares for orphaned children with medical needs. The centre assists the local Chinese Children's Welfare Institute by providing care to abandoned Chinese orphan babies born with medical issues. Shanghai Healing Home provides a home-like environment that meets not only the babies' physical needs but also their emotional and developmental needs. 

See more here: https://www.facebook.com/shanghaihealinghome

What is the Purple Community Fund?

The Purple Community Fund (PCF) believe in providing sustainable opportunities so that beneficiaries can help themselves and their families rise out of poverty through the acquisition of new skills, education, training and holistic programmes. PCF strives to make a difference to those who are in the direst of circumstances in the Philippines.

One way of achieving a sustainable income for families who live in poverty, is to recycle aluminium ring pulls so that they can be custom made into jewellery, handbags and other items. These goods would are then sold as a source of income for people on the poverty line.

See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB5QQ5XbvE4

My involvement

In order to support PCF collect waste materials to transform them into recycled merchandise, I became involved in an awareness raising and action group whilst at SJI International School, Singapore. My family and I volunteered to collect ringpulls in order to be sent to the Purple Community Fund. I purchased approximately 25 collection pots and distributed them to local hawker centres with an explanation of why we were collecting the ring pulls. Each week I would visit the hawker centres to empty the pots at a central collection point. I was amazed at the local support for this initiative. My family then managed to seek the free services of an international courier who shipped the ring pulls to the PCF centre in Manilla.

The images below show my mum and teachers from SJI International school delivering the ring pulls; the children supported by the PCF foundation; and items created from the ring pulls collection.