Run Forest Run!

If you ask friends that I went to school with, they will most definitely agree that running is not my forte! The mere mention of cross-country around Tiddenfoot Pit would make my heart sink!

And yet, I now find myself training to run a mammoth 26.2 miles in approximately 4 weeks time at the Edinburgh marathon! This day has been a long time coming, over the past four years I have been building up my distances, from 5k to 10k and last year I ran the Silverstone half marathon. Each year I say I won’t be running a further distance, and I can safely say that after this year, this statement will be true.

I have now been in training for 6 long months and am up to the 20 mile marker so I am pretty sure I will make the full distance in one piece! You can help me on the 22^nd May when I am slogging it around Edinburgh in the name of charity (and madness) by donating via the Paypal link on our home page (www.selvin.org.uk).  Any donation will be gratefully received and will make a huge difference to the schools we are supporting – it will also keep me going when my legs want to give up!

Much love,

V

X

How you can help!

The smallest donation can make a massive difference in these schools, your generosity through donations will allow us to buy locally sourced items to not only support the delivery of education but also the recreational time of these children.

Below is an example of how your donations could be used to benefit these schools:

£2.50 could buy pencils for an entire classroom

£3.00 could buy notebooks for a whole class

£4.00 could buy a pack of paper for a whole class

£4.00 could buy 45 footballs for recess

£16 could buy 16 chairs for a classroom

£20.00 could buy 5 tables for a classroom

£30.00 could buy pencils for an entire school

£36.00 could buy a white board for a classroom

Stu's Guatemalan Experience

With the Selvin & Friends Foundation now up and running, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to the start, and tell you a little more about the area we will be supporting this year.

San Andreas Itzapa is about a 45 minute bus ride from Antigua, which is a world heritage site. The transformation as you leave the town and approach Itzapa is painfully obvious as the general state of the land and towns diminish. The school itself is located on the edge of the town, close to the farmlands where the vast majority of the children live, and sadly work.

With school starting at 8 in the morning, a good percentage of the children, both boys and girls ranging from 5 years old up to 14, will have spent the morning working in the fields with their families to generate something to sell, but mostly just for something to eat.

They arrive at school often still covered in the dust from the fields but possess the drive and the will to learn. You arrive at the school to be mobbed by a gang of children who want to hug you, it’s hard to tell if this is out of excitement, or the relief that they can be children for a portion of the day.

The hard graft that they have put in before school soon disappears as they get the chance to act their age and to be simply be children. The children really seem to appreciate the opportunity the school presents them with.

The children have a close bond to the local figurehead at the school, Elena. Elena has to make the school’s toughest decisions, from the general running of the school to determining which families benefit from the education. The schooling offered is free, the only requirement being that the children regularly attend school, but with the work needed to be done on the land; this is often difficult for the families of Itzapa. She is also extremely welcoming to the volunteers who assist in the school and in no time at all you are one of the family.

The school itself acts as a booster to the state school. With well over 35 children to one teacher in the state schools and each class made up of a mixture of grades, the education standard is sadly low. The school offers the opportunity for everyone to get a better chance at a basic education, with classes of up to ten children to a teacher, but perhaps most importantly, aimed at the correct grade levels.

Sadly what the school possesses in terms of opportunities for these children, it lacks in terms of equipment.  The pencils, paper, text books and rubbers are just used at the same level as any normal school, but as the supply of the equipment is reliant on donations, levels can often be low.

This is where your support can make a difference; every penny we receive will go to ensuring the schools have a decent supply of stationary and school materials.

Capturing the children’s imaginations is never a challenge; they just want to learn and want to delve into the wonders of the core subjects Numeracy, Literacy and Science.

  

The children amazingly pleasant, they sometimes just need the care and attention that a child so vitally needs. Sadly it seems they are often seen as working hands rather than given the opportunity to explore the wonders of being a child.

It is amazing that in a region of such hardship and struggle that in testing times, something as small as a school can have a huge impact on so many, starting with the children. It is also wonderful how the school manages to act as a haven, not only for the children but also for those who work there.

Like anyone who has witnessed others whose human rights are lacking because of where they come from, you feel the need to try to make a difference. Sadly, Guatemala is not just around the corner to help every day, but we have a chance through the Selvin & Friends Foundation to make a real difference to these schools and local communities.

Your kind support as a friend of the Selvin & Friends Foundation has already made such a big difference and will continue to do so. For this my thanks will never be demonstrated enough, but from the bottom of our hearts, Vicki and I are eternally grateful.

Your friend,

Stu

A special thanks...

To the incredibly talented Tom Dunn for building our amazing website, its safe to say we wouldn't be where we are today without his hard work!

You have brought our little charity to life, thank you xx

We are up and running!

This time last year, Stu was volunteering in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua and saw first hand the shortfall of teaching and school supplies in local schools.

When he returned, we decided that we would like to do something to help the children in these schools and by raising funds we seek to support the delivery of education through providing much needed teaching and school materials to assist with the delivery of education for those who need it the most.

After many months of hard work, The Selvin and Friends charity was born. Our aim has been to create a small friends and family charity that seeks to raise £1000 in 2011 through taking part in a number of fundraising events


Why Selvin?

Whilst trying to decide on a name for our charity we heard the sad news that one of the children Stuart taught in Guatemala had passed away.

We decided that it would be a fitting tribute to name our charity after the bubbly bundle of energy that was Selvin, and everything we achieve will be Selvin's legacy


How you can help!

We will be raising funds by taking part in a number of activities throughout the year including the Edinburgh Marathon in May and the British 10k in July.

We kicked off our campaign on a cold Sunday on 6th March when we both took part in the Silverstone Half Marathon. Stu finished in an impressive 2:12 whilst it took me a rather more modest 2:26 to complete the 13.1 mile course.

I am now battling through sore legs to continue training for the Edinburgh Marathon, a prospect that makes me a little nervous!

We can only achieve our target with your support, any amount you are able to sponsor us for completing these events will make a huge difference to the communities we are supporting. If you are already taking part in an event and would like to fundraise for us, that would be amazing! Please speak to either myself or Stu if you would like further information on this.

We have also had friends offer to raise money through other fundraising ideas such as selling cakes, this is both extremely generous and much appreciated.

Together we can keep Selvin's legacy alive by providing children in some of the worlds poorest areas with the materials they require for a meaningful education.


Gracias amigos de Selvin, Vicki and Stu