An update from Selvin HQ

Merry Christmas from Selvin and Friends!

A warm hello to all of our friends in our final newsletter of 2014.

Short but sweet...

Due to your extraordinarily generous donations over the past four years, we decided that 2014 would be a 'year off' of fundraising.

That does not mean it has been all quiet at Selvin HQ, on the contrary...

Douro Half marathon

Vicki got back into her running shoes and took on the Douro half marathon earlier this year.

She completed the course, not with a personal best time, but given the 31 degree Portuguese heat, and the sun stroke she suffered afterwards, it was, all in all, a relatively successful event!

Twelve for Twelve

After taking a year off of fundraising, we will be back in 2015 with a new challenge, 'Twelve for Twelve,' twelve events over the next twelve months.

Events have not yet been finalised for the entire year, but the first few events include:

1. Hyde Park 10K
2. Brighton Half Marathon
3. 5k Glow Run
4. London Easter 10k
5. Bupa 10k

We must however note that these are subject to change on account of an anticipated arrival in 2015!

In 2015, we will be supporting...

Primary and kindergarten schools in the Quechua-speaking communities of Triunfo and Maldonado, in Sachaca on the outskirts of Arequipa, in Peru.

The project that we work with in Central America, The Phoenix Project, also seeks to provide Secondary school scholarships to the pupils so that their education can be continued.

By providing the teaching and education materials that are needed in these schools, it frees up school funds to allow this money to be put towards a teachers salary, and for meals to improve the nourishment of the pupils.

More on this to follow in the new year.

And finally, a great big huge thanks...

For your continued support in 2014, and for generally making Selvin what it is. Its been an incredible four years, with schools in four Central American countries receiving much needed school and teaching supplies.

This simply would not have happened without you!

Happy New Year amigos de Selvin x

Merry May

While things may have been quiet on the Selvin front of late, that doesn't mean we haven't been busy behind the scenes!

Last weekend, Vicki completed her latest running event, and this one added a new challenge, heat! Yes, as the sun beat down on the Douro Valley in Portugal, heating it to a toasty 31 degrees, she ran 13.1 miles for Selvin.

We are also currently in the process of finalising the country we will be supporting in 2015, and in what form that support will take.  Look out for an update nearer to Christmas!

A special thanks to Vicki's work, who named Selvin as their charity of the year during the last financial year, raising over £500 through cake sales, sweep stakes, and a number of Festive activities at the end of last year.  An amazing effort!

For now, some very wise words to end on...

And thank you for playing such a big part in our change.

Gracias amigos de Selvin

Stu & Vicki

A warm hello to all of our friends in our first newsletter of 2014.

Short but sweet...

With the bulk of our 2013/14 work completed over the summer months of 2013, our first round up of the year is somewhat shorter than usual, but there are still a few developments to report!

Charity of the year

Vicki's workplace continued their support of Selvin as their charity of the year with some festive fundraising.

On 13 December, numerous colleagues donned their christmas jumpers, and one even decided to come fully dressed as Santa, raising over £65 in the process!

In addition to Christmas knitwear, there was a collection in lieu of sending Christmas cards, which raised just shy of £150.

So far, hundreds of pounds have been raised by Vicki's extremely generous and supportive colleagues, and this money will make a huge difference to the schools we are supporting in the coming years.

Run Forest Run

After hanging up her running shoes after the London Triathlon, Vicki is back in running training over the cold winter months in preparation for the Douro half marathon in May.

Other fundraising events will be announced later on in the year.

In 2014, will be supporting...

A local primary school in Honduras. Earlier this month, we delivered 100 pencil, 20 boxes of paint, 30 packs of paper, 20 boxes of crayons, 250 exercise books and 100 numeracy books to the school, sourced locally to support local businesses. We have also been able to supply the teachers with vital teaching materials such as marker pens for white boards. 

This delivery means the school will be stocked with these much needed items for the next 12 months, which marks a great achievement to see in the new year for Selvin!

The futures Selvin

Stu and Vicki are both thrilled that due to the extraordinary support we have received over the past three years, we are able to continue supporting schools in 2015 and 2016, extending our remit to Ecuador and Peru.

And finally, a great big huge thanks...

For your continued support in 2013, your generosity is ever humbling and very much appreciated. You make Selvin the success it is.

Happy New Year amigos de Selvin x

Selvin's summer 2013 newsletter

Dear friends,

The latest news from Selvin HQ

Things may have been a little quiet on the Selvin front of late, but rest assure we have been busy training, completing events and fundraising in order to provide those much needed teaching materials to schools in Central America.

Going the 'extra mile' for Selvin

Over the past few months, a number of fundraising events have been completed to rack up those extra miles, and raise vital funds for Selvin:

Virgin London Marathon 2013

Following months of training over the cold and dark winter months, Vicki took on her biggest challenge of the year, the London Marathon.

Despite her apprehension, and nerves, she completed the course in 5 hours and 22 minutes, beating her personal best by 5 minutes, and was cheered around the course by some amazing friends and family.

She also raised over £900 for Selvin, 90% of our annual fundraising target, thanks to your incredible support!

Its safe to say that her marathon days are over, and she has hung up her long distance running shoes. Although she did say that last time as well...

BUPA 10,000

Following on from the London Marathon, and perhaps posing a far more ‘leg friendly’ prospect, Vicki completed the BUPA 10,000 along London's embankment. A huge number of runners made for a great atmosphere, and with a finish line in the exact same place as the marathon, Vicki thankfully reached it much sooner than the month before!

The Virgin Triathlon

Vicki’s final fundraising event of the year was of the swim, bike and run variety.

Open water swimming remains her least favorite thing, and this year had the added bonus of swimming against the current. If you haven’t tried it, she doesn’t recommend it! That said, there is a real team spirit every step of the way, which definitely helps while you are in the water.

In comparison to the swim, the bike and the run are a breeze, and knowing you have completed the hardest part of the event is definitely a massive help mentally.

Seeing the finish line was beyond welcomed! And with that, Vicki has completed her four main fundraising events for the year, and she couldn’t have done them for a worthier cause!

She now plans to take six months off to rest and recuperate, as quite frankly, her legs need a bit of a break! However I am sure she’ll be coaxed into undertaking new challenges in 2014!

Selvin's first sailing challange

One of Vicki’s colleagues, Anna, kindly chose to support Selvin when undertaking her first sailing challenge, the Fastnet Race, racing 608 nautical miles.

Unbelievably, Anna first set foot on a yacht in May this year, and not only has she now learnt to sail, she completed the race in an amazing 3 days 15 hours and 32 minutes.
Some 397 boats started the race, and in Anna’s class of 73 boats, the team came in at a hugely impressive 20th.

Anna’s courageous effort’s raised over £500 for Selvin. Thank you to Anna and everyone who sponsored her, your donations will make such a big difference to the schools we are supporting.

Charity of the year

Selvin has been chosen as Vicki’s workplaces’ ‘Charity of the Year’ for 2013.

During a recent celebration event, we created a picture board which tells the
story of us.

This gave us the perfect opportunity to create awareness of what we hope to achieve, and we also received over £100 in donations, not bad for a lunchtime!

Thank you to Vicki’s colleagues for being extremely supportive, both in terms of nominating Selvin to be charity of the year, and their kind donations.

If any of our friends have ‘Charity of the Year’ at their work place and would like to put Selvin forward for this scheme, please do not hesitate to contact Stu or Vicki for any support or promotional materials.

Selvin in action

To see how your donations make a huge difference to the schools we support, and the children who attend them, click here!

And finally...

Thank you. We know we say it alot, but thats not to say we mean it less each time we say it. We couldn’t achieve any of this without your unwavering support.


Gracias amigos de Selvin


Vicki and Stu
x

Selvin donations in use!

(Courtesy of Fly the Phoenix http://www.thephoenixprojects.org/)

Picture Perfect

We have popped all of our photos in one tidy place, so if you want to see our journey, here it is!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92870608@N05/sets/

Charity of the Year

We have been chosen as Vicki's workplace's charity of the year, and we hope to raise £500 for school and teaching equipment over the next 12 months.

During a recent celebration event in the office, we raised over £100 and raised brand awareness with a specially created story board, telling the story of us.

Guatemala in numbers

While we have some great number to show just how far our supporters incredibly kind donations can go in providing schools in Central America with school and teaching materials, I really wanted to show some numbers which demonstrate what access to education in like on the ground level in these countries.

This post focuses on Guatemala, the first country in which we supported local schools. 

• The illiteracy rate in many rural areas of Guatemala is 75%
• Two-thirds of Guatemalan children live in poverty
• Nine out of ten schools in rural Guatemala lack books
• 60% of entry-level jobs in Guatemala require computer skills
• One out of ten of rural Guatemalans attend middle school
• 1.8: is the average number of years an indigenous Guatemalan woman stays in school

(Courtesy of http://www.coeduc.org/guatemala/poverty.html)

I'm sure you agree, these are scary figures.  Even if a child manages to attend school, of which that number is incredibly small, that school is 90% likely to be lacking in the teaching materials to provide these children with an adequate education.

In addition, 60% of jobs require a skill that children are unlikely to learn at schools that are lacking books, let alone be able to provide computers to equip children with this skill.

We are incredibly lucky to live in a country that provides us with the tools and skills to have every opportunity as we become adults and seek to forge our own career paths and provide for ourselves and our families.  

We believe every child deserves this opportunity, and thanks to the support of our friends and family, we do what we can to help make this belief a reality. 

  

The last few months in pictures...

A warm hello to all of our friends in our first newsletter of 2013.

First things first…

Thank you for supporting us over the past two years. Because of you, teachers have been provided with their own copies of national curriculums; textbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias have been delivered to schools, two libraries have been created, a brand new computer has been installed, and a 6 months supply of note books have been purchased.

Not bad for two years work, and we are only just getting started!!

It’s been a busy few months so far and we have hit the ground running in 2013! We already have the first half marathon of the year under our belt as part of our ‘going the extra mile’ campaign for Selvin, and have delivered vital school materials to two schools in Nicaragua!

Nicaragua Update

This year, we are supporting two schools in Nicaragua, which teach close to 180 pre and primary school aged children.

Both schools asked the Selvin & Friends Foundation for books in order to create libraries, so that’s exactly what we have provided!

           

Thanks to your generous donations, we have been able to provide a huge number of books to each school, which will make a huge difference to the teaching aids available to teachers, and the learning opportunities of the children at both schools.

Guatemala update

As we had some remaining funds in our Guatemala kitty, each teacher was brought a teaching kit, containing basic, yet vital teaching materials such as pens for the white board, staplers and a hole punch!

           

Paris half marathon

On 3^rd March, on a sunny Sunday morning, Vicki took to the Parisian streets to complete the Paris half marathon. 

Along with 30,699 other runners, Vicki passed iconic landmarks including Notre Dame Cathedral, the July Column and the Château de Vincennes, and passed the finish line in 2 hours and 24 minutes, a personal best!

          

Hopefully this will put her in good stead for…

The London Marathon

…in just over three weeks time!

On the 21 April, Vicki will be lining up with over 35,000 other running’s to run 26.2 miles around the city of London.  You can show your support, and make the long dark evenings of training more bearable by making a donation via our new MyDonate page at

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/extramilelondonmarathon/92157

Every penny can truly make a massive difference to the schools we are supporting.  In practical terms:

£2.50 could buy pencils for an entire classroom
£3.00 could buy notebooks for a whole class
£4.00 could buy 45 footballs for recess
£16 could buy 16 chairs for a classroom
£30.00 could buy pencils for an entire school

By allowing us to claim Gift Aid on your donation, we can claim an extra 25p from the tax man for every pound that you donate. In practical terms, this means if you were to donate £10.00 to us, the tax man would give us an extra £2.50 on top, that’s enough to provide pencils for an entire classroom!

Lands End to John o’ Groats (LEJOG)

Due to relocating in the summer, Stu will be delaying his LEJOG challenge until next summer, however he will instead be taking on…

Lands End to Dover

As this is the year we are going the extra mile for Selvin, Stu has decided not to rest on his laurels and will instead be cycling from Lands End to the White Cliffs of Dover.

Stu will be attempting this new challenge in August, covering a grueling 401 miles over 7 days, which works out to roughly 60 miles a day. Stu has been in training for the event by taking to the road on his new bike when the weather has allowed, or putting the hours in at the gym during the untimely snowstorms! In addition, Stu has also been learning how to swerve around the many potholes left by the extreme weather conditions, which in itself is no mean feat!

This event will be excellent preparation for LEJOG in 2014.

Stay in touch

You can keep up to date with Selvin news by visiting the website www.selvin.org.uk, by following us on Twitter (@selvin_charity) or by liking our Facebook page.

The only thing left to do is wish you all a very happy Easter!

Gracias amigos de Selvin

Vicki and Stu

x

The Paris Half Marathon

On a sunny Sunday morning on 3rd March, Vicki took to the Parisian streets with 37699 other runners to complete the Paris half marathon. 

Thats a few miles under our belt for our 'going the extra mile' for Selvin campaign!

Thats a lot of runners!

The best sight, the finish line behind you!

PB!

The proof!

Building Libraries

Local schools in Nicaragua, being supported by Selvin & Friends in 2013, asked for books in order to build libraries, so thats exactly what we have provided!!

A warm hello to all of our friends in our final newsletter of 2012.

What a year of firsts and milestones 2012 has been! This year has seen first birthdays, first swimathons, first volcano climbs, first triathlons, first ‘From Schools, For Schools’ campaigns and our first trip to visit the schools we are supporting.

Being such a small charity, every milestone we reach is a massive achievement for us. Seeing first hand the difference projects like ours can make has made us even more determined to provide these schools with the equipment they need.

Which is why 2013 will be...

The year we go the Extra Mile for Selvin!           

 

2013 will see Vicki and Stu (and anyone else who would like to join us!) taking on events to go the extra mile for Selvin.  So far we will be taking on the challenge of the Paris Half Marathon, BUPA 10,000, the London Marathon, the London Triathlon and a Lands End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) bike ride, clocking up hundreds of miles between us.

You can show your support, and make the long dark evenings of training more bearable by supporting us at our brand new...

BT MyDonate website

From 1^st January 2013, you will be able to donate to us via our Selvin’s MyDonate page (https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/theselvinfriendsfoundation) Not only should this be a much simpler way of making a donation, but we can also claim an extra 25p from the tax man for every pound that you donate in Gift Aid. In practical terms, this means if you were to donate £10.00 to us, the tax man would give us an extra £2.50 on top!

We are Selvin

When we weren’t in school or climbing volcanos in Guatemala, we spent some time making a video to tell our story, and how, thanks to your support, we have been able to make a difference.

You can view the video, called ‘Today we make our difference,’ along with other videos from our trip to Guatemala, by visiting our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/selvinfriends 

Guatemala Update

In Guatemala, only 60% of children who enter first grade make it to the sixth grade of primary school, if they make it to school at all.

Therefore, following on from our visit to Itzapa and Santa Maria in July, we were delighted to hear that the exam results across all six grades in both of these schools were mainly in the 80% region, with some students even topping 90%, meaning nearly all students progressed to the next grade!

Of that 60% who make it to sixth grade of primary school, only 35% move onto to secondary school afterwards.  We were delighted to hear that all 12 sixth graders at Itzapa graduated, and all 12 children will start secondary school in January. 100%, what an achievement!

It is a delight and a pleasure to play some small part in helping these children to receive the education that they deserve.  We hope that every sixth grader for many years to come has the opportunity to move onto secondary school just like this years students.

2013 Nicaragua

After a successful first year supporting Guatemalan schools we move on to our second country, Nicaragua. There are two schools which we will be supporting in 2013. Both schools are considerably newer than the schools in Guatemala, La Thompson (where Stu worked) will be four in March and the sister school in Alexis Arguello is only two years old. 

The schools are situated close to the town of Estelí, which is in the north of the country.

Across the two schools, around 180 children are taught daily, with a mix of pre school and primary school classes. The primary school runs from the first to the sixth grade with an additional teaching function for adults to learn English. There are currently six teachers and two cooks who work full time to ensure the children have at least one proper meal a day.

The families, similar to that in Guatemala, face huge economic struggles. The families who live on the land around the schools have mainly moved close to Estelí as a result economic migration. The land on which they live was essentially a favela, but it is beginning to be recognised as a settlement.

The families provide manual labour to the local tobacco plantations with their children being the first generation to be literate. The majority of the two areas have high illiteracy levels similar to that of Guatemala.

We very much look forward to working with these schools over the coming year to provide much needed school and teaching materials.

Stay in touch

You can keep up to date with Selvin news by visiting the website www.selvin.org.uk, by following us on Twitter (@selvin_charity) or by liking our Facebook page.

And finally...

2012 has been such an incredible year for Selvin, we have achieved more than we believed possible when we set the charity up a year ago.

A huge thank you must firstly go to our friends and family for their continued support.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to us in 2012, you continue to make Selvin and Friends grow into more than we thought possible.

A special mention must go to all of the staff and students at Parkfields Middle School and Biddenham International School for supporting and championing our From Schools, For Schools campaign.

Thank you to The Phoenix Project, Dom and Doreen Williams, Moli Griffin and Sarah Riggott (who was also kind/mad enough to take part in our volcano challenge with us) for their hospitality and support during our trip to Guatemala.

Selvin has always very much been a team effort and all of this wouldn’t have been possible without your support.

The only thing left to do is wish you all a very merry Christmas and all best wishes for 2013.

Gracias amigos de Selvin

Vicki and Stu

x

An update from Itzapa, Guatemala

When we saw the update below, we were incredibly proud to be supporting a fantastic project and such amazing children! Brilliant news of what can be achieved when the opportunity is available. Education is a right not a privilege.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know only 60% of Guatemalan children who enter first grade actually make it to sixth grade of primary school...if they make it to school at all. Of that 60% only 35% move onto to secondary school afterwards.


In Itzapa, last Tuesday, all 12 of our sixth grade class graduated and all 12 will start secondary school in January...100%...can't wait to watch them grow into young adults!

(Courtesy of The Phoenix Project)