LittleStars-Luxor

 

 

www.LittleStars-Luxor.org

 

We have reached the end of another month and Europe is battening down ready for the winter.  Luxor does not have the rain and snow that Europe has but it does have cold days and very cold nights during the winter months.  In these conditions children are the first to suffer especially if there is no money for shoes, warm clothing or medicines.  Little Stars is now five months old and is pleased to announce that donations have now broken the £4,000 sterling barrier and is now in a position to really help those who through adversity are not able to help themselves. 

 

In order to register as a UK charity the founders have to be able to predict an income of at least £5,000 per year.  When the original forms are completed a projection of expected income is produced and submitted for assessment.  That projection is usually prepared more in hope than anything else.  Who can tell whether a charity will grab the public’s imagination enough for them to donation their hard-earned cash to it?  Predictions of income are difficult to make. 

 

Fortunately, Little Stars has been blessed with publicity that has attracted many more supporters to the site.  That coupled with an impressive range of achievements has encouraged our supporters to give generously.  We still have seven months of the year left to reach our target but with your continued support we hope to reach that figure long before then.  We thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.

 

 As an update of what has been done during October:-

1     Repairs to the west bank clinic are complete

2     Wages have been paid on time in the east and west bank clinics

3     A replacement hydrotherapy unit has been ordered for the West Bank

4     Blankets have been ordered for distribution to needy families

5     School fees have been paid.

6     Advertising material has been submitted for printing

7     Additional collecting boxes have been placed around Luxor

8     Fund raising projects in the UK are growing

9     Funding proposals submitted to Little Stars have been assessed

10   Donations reached the £4,000 sterling level.

 

The replacement hydrotherapy unit, coupled with the newly repaired hot-water system, means that this type of treatment can resume in the West Bank clinic. Hopefully all the other equipment that is needed there will be available soon. 

 

The payment of school fees means that many children who would have been forced to leave school can now take their mid-year and end-of-year exams and can progress into the next academic year.

 

Thanks are due to our UK fund raisers for their commitment to Little Stars.

 

 Proposals for November:

Names have been gathered of children that might have fallen through the net.

The price of wheelchairs in Egypt is being investigated ready for purchase.

Skeletal Stretching units are being purchased

Warm clothing will be bought for children in needy families

Papers for the registration of the UK section of Little Stars will be prepared.

Wages at the clinnics are being reviewed.

Land will be sought to the south of Luxor for a new clinic.

 

  

We have said this countless times but that does not make it any less true. 

 WE CANNOT DO ANY OF THIS WITHOUT YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.    

www.LittleStars-Luxor.org

An old saying goes that “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.  Likewise, the proof of a charity is in what it achieves and Little Stars is now achieving what it set out to do.  Its aim is to help all of Luxor’s orphaned, abandoned, disabled and disadvantaged children.

 

Our programme started with the renovation of a clinic for disabled children on the west bank and then progressed to the payment of school fees for disadvantaged children.  As our funds grow so the number of projects that Little Stars can undertake in Upper Egypt will grow with it.   

 

Publicity for Little Stars has been magnificent recently and our donations reflect this as our total donations grow daily.  Please help to continue this growth.  There is so much to be done. 

 

We are investigating having some Little Stars T shirts made for our volunteers and perhaps some Little Stars stickers or pins that our supporters can wear with pride.  Look out for them when you are next in Luxor.

 

Mood: Profoundly Grateful

 www.LittleStars-Luxor.org

We are delighted to report that our education programme in Luxor has begun.  We decided that the best way to tackle the problem of difficulty in paying school fees is on a school by school basis rather than an individual one.  In that way no child is likely to be overlooked.  Below is a report from Luxor that was received this morning.  We are proud to share it with you.  

Report from Little Stars Charity Luxor Representative. 

      “I have visited an East Bank School this morning (name withheld but available on request) and paid the school fees for twenty children. I had a conducted tour of the school, was shown work done by the pupils and spoke to some of them. It was very impressive. The place was spotlessly clean and some of the work done by the kids especially the art work (which they have all over the walls) was very very good.
      All the teachers were very welcoming and thanked Little Stars supporters very much.  The Manager provided a receipt for the money and showed me the lady who was busy making separate receipts for each child to take to their homes to show their parents that their school fees had been paid. Now they will be able to take their half year and end of year exams and then progress to the next year.
      I asked them if there was anything else we could do to help and they said that winter was coming and some of the kids only had ship ships and no jumper to wear for school. If we could help some of them with that they would be very grateful. I told them that I would mention it to you but no promises.  At least we know this money has been spent wisely and not gone astray.   The school was certainly quieter that British Schools, the kids well behaved and the place very clean. They had a nice playground, nothing in it but somewhere for them to kick a ball, and very nice gardens which the children under the guidance of a teacher maintain. All in all I was very impressed. The also gave me a bottle of sand with a design in, which the children had made, for Little Stars.”

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With your help we can buy shoes and warm clothes for the children that need them.  Your support has already been overwhelming but much more is needed.  Please give what you can.

 

Mood: Jubilant

 

 www.Littlestars-Luxor.org

 

Today is a RED LETTER DAY for Little Stars.  We have just learned from our bank that donations for specific and general use have now topped the £3,000 sterling mark.  There are so many things that can be done with those funds and we thank all our many supporters for the continued faith and trust in what Little Stars is achieving on behalf of Luxor’s children.

 

£3,000 sterling is not a massive amount when compared with the funds that established charities have but it is a huge amount for new charity to raise in such a short time.  With the fantastic efforts that our team are putting in, the new clinic at the southern end of the west bank might become reality rather than just a dream and all the disabled children on the west bank will get the free treatment they both need and deserve.

Mood: Chirpy

http://www.LittleStars-Luxor.org

Renovation work on the west bank clinic for disabled children is now well under way and the windows, fans and lights have all been replaced.  The next step is to acquire up-to-date equipment that will benefit all the children that come there for treatment.  After that we need to have a small publicity campaign on the west bank to make sure that the presence of the clinic is known in all the outlying villages.  In this way we can help as many children as possible.  When funds allow, our wish is to open another clinic at the southern end of the west bank of Luxor. 

 

Work is also well under way collecting the names of children who are in desperate need of having their school fees paid so that they can continue their education.  There is a meeting later this week between our Needs Advisor and our Trustees to decide which are the most pressing cases so that payment can be arranged.  I shall keep you informed of how we progress.

 

Remember that if you know of any urgent cases of families being in need of assistance then please let us know and we will investigate the situation and help if we can.  The aim of Little Stars as a charity is to help all of Luxor's disadvantaged children.

 

Mood: Optimisitc

 http://www.LittleStars-Luxor.org

Little Star’s funds have now reached a level where we can accept applications for assistance from Luxor citizens who are in need.  If you know of a family in the Luxor area that is in desperate need of help, warm blankets or children’s clothes and shoes then please do not hesitate to ask us.  You can contact us here on contact@littlestars-luxor.org

Education is a way out of poverty and we have started a scheme which deals with the payment of mandatory school fees.  The fees are only about £5.00 per child but this is an impossible sum if you have nothing. Again, if you know of children who are being denied an education because of the non-payment of these fees then please let us know.  Education is a way out of poverty and offers a brighter future for young people.  Egypt has a high illiteracy rate hopefully we can help to reduce it.

 

With your support, we can help.  Without your support we can do nothing.

 

Mood: Totally positive

 http://www.LittleStars-Luxor.org

Although it is sometimes very hard, it is necessary to maintain a positive attitude to all things in this life and we should admire the strength of the human spirit which maintains the will to survive against all odds.  To continue when there is nothing left but hope is the lot of many widows and orphans in third world countries.   Little Stars cannot remove poverty and it cannot alleviate all pain but it can do something to help relieve it if only temporarily.

 

How do you protect innocence though in a society that is far from innocent and from sexually predatory Europeans who come to prey on children who are locked into poverty?  How do you protect innocence from those whose paucity of spirit is so entrenched that their own hope has fled leaving only the desire to destroy rather than to build?    

 

Thanks to Paul our new webmaster, whose integrity is beyond question, our latest newsletter will soon be uploaded and you can read about all the latest projects that Little Stars has undertaken.

 

 

Mood: Optimistic for Luxor's disadvantaged children