[Dialogue] Seeking funding: Supporting Brazilian children to attend international conference

Tue Feb 14 10:53:49 EST 2006

Dear ICA colleague 

I am writing to ask for your help bringing a group of disadvantaged
Brazilian kids to an international camp/conference in England this summer. 

Having left ICA:UK  staff in September last year, I now work part-time at
Exeter’s Global Centre and full-time (on a voluntary basis) for the
Woodcraft Folk.  

The Woodcraft Folk is a UK-wide educational youth movement for children,
young people and adults, founded in 1925. Like the Scouts we have weekly
group nights with games, craft, songs, drama and outdoor activities; we wear
green shirts and go on camps and hikes. Unlike the Scouts we have
mixed-gender groups, and focus on internationalism, peace and co-operation
(our motto is ‘Span the World with Friendship’). The website is at
www.woodcraft.org.uk <http://www.woodcraft.org.uk/>   

I’ve been involved for about 3½ years now, since my daughters joined in
2002. At first my wife Rebecca & I went along with them to keep them
company, joined in the games and stayed to listen. We quickly found out that
it’s both great fun and very much in line with our values. So we got more &
more involved, and when we first went away to camp in the following spring,
really discovered what Woodcraft is all about. We went on a walk in the
woods with the little ones, and as we walked we encountered the older ones,
the teenagers, who had set the trail for us. They asked us riddles, which
when answered, led us to materials that we needed for the next day. Back at
camp we had a junk music workshop, and a campfire with singing after dark.
The next day we took the materials we’d found and assembled a fantastic
giant figure, under the instruction of the teenage members, which we paraded
through the streets accompanied by the junk band and the tune we’d written.
It was the best fun we’d had with the kids for ages! Add to that the respect
that all the kids and adults showed for each other, and the responsibility
that all the young people were taken, and we were hooked.

Since then we’ve got more & more involved, and I now run one of the groups
myself, and co-ordinate the 5 groups in Exeter. It’s a lot of work, but it’s
enjoyable and so valuable – you can really see the children growing up with
a good attitude to each other and to the world.  As one of the young members
recently wrote: “where scouts and guides teach you to be a citizen of great
britain and to love your queen an country, woodies teaches you to be a
citizen of the world and to love nature - including all of humanity”.

So this year our small Woodcraft Folk group in Exeter will have the chance
to meet up with similar groups from all over the world. At the end of July
over 5000 young people and adults from about 60 countries will come together
in a field in Kent for an international camp called Global Village 2006
(www.globalvillage2006.org <http://www.globalvillage2006.org/> ). There will
be participants from rich countries like the UK and Germany and the US (Boys
& Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne), but also less developed countries
like Egypt, India & Brazil. And Exeter Woodcraft Folk are currently raising
money to support the costs of the Brazilians (who are members of an
organisation in Recife called MIRIM (www.mirimbrasil.org.br
<http://www.mirimbrasil.org.br/>  ). 

For many of the Brazilians coming to the camp next summer, this may be their
first trip outside their country. The opportunity to meet young people from
around the world, to exchange experiences and have fun, could be a high
point in their lives.

Exeter’s Woodcraft Folk will also benefit from the experience. We will learn
about how young people live in the favelas of a Brazilian city. We’ll learn
about the country and its history, culture and ecology, especially the
Amazon rainforest. And I hope we’ll also have some fun finding out about the
music of Brasil, and its world-beating football team!  

Our fundraising job is big for a small group – the flights alone will be
over £6000 (about $10 000), our target is £10 000 to cover all the costs.
We’re doing a number of events to raise the money -a ceilidh (country dance)
this Saturday, a Promises Auction, a sponsored run, a car boot sale (like a
garage sale) and a copper mile (make a mile out  of pennies – it’s worth
£800!). All of which is fun and reasonably remunerative, but it ain’t
getting us there fast enough! 

So I’m also approaching trusts (no luck yet), government funds and private
companies (again, no luck yet).

But I thought I could also offer this opportunity to ICA colleagues to join
me in supporting these disadvantaged kids to have this unique,
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you’d like to make a donation, please
send cash or a check made payable to “Woodcraft Folk Exeter fundraising
account” to me at the address below (cash might be preferable, as I’m not
sure how to bank a check in dollars!).

Equally, any other good fundraising ideas would be most welcome! 

Yours in anticipation

Cheers

Ghee

++++++++

Ghee Bowman

15 Mile Lane 

Exeter 

EX4 9AA

+44 (0)1392 422216

gbowman at gn.apc.org 

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