Earth is the Home We Share
Registered Charity No. 1113505
COMPASSION DIRECT UK CHANGES LIVES
Registered charity 1113505 since 2004, run by professional volunteers so keeping overheads low!
CDUK has been changing peoples lives abroad for 20 years with water, workshops, wind power, goats, gardens, libraries, educational buildings & development. We provide environmentally sustainable solutions & self help projects in the developing world.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT CDUK?
- We consult with local people who advise us on their needs for a sustainable future.
- We work directly with people & organisations avoiding unnecessary expenses.
- We consider the environmental impact of our work & plant trees to reduce CO2 emissions.
- We provide environmentally sustainable solutions such as solar power, biogas cookers & windmills where appropriate.
- We encourage people to help themselves by providing practical, self help projects.
- We are professional volunteers & have low overheads so your money goes where it is most needed avoiding expensive office rental, salaries & administrative costs.
Make a quick donation on your phone, text CDUK to 70970 to donate £5.
Set up Pay Role Giving at your place of work.
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
NEW CAMPAIGNS
Mothers with HIV walk upto 10km to learn a trade at our new Sewing Coop but some drop out because they are exhausted by the walk! WE NEED TO RESTART THE FOOD PROGRAMME at the ajoining school - see below, so that they can share in the Food Programme, please donate or fundraise for us, we urgently need your support!
- Make 'shoe/tote bags' for Syringe Drivers - Help NHS oncology patients at Cambridge Addenbrooke's Hospital. Go to Shoe Bags page for more information.
- HELP US TO RESTART A FOOD PROGRAMME AT A RURAL VILLAGE SCHOOL IN RWANDA THAT CLOSED DURING COVID, LEAVING MANY CHILDREN HUNGRY & DYING. JUST 100 PEOPLE MAKING A STANDING ORDER OF £5 A MONTH WILL ENABLE US TO RESTART THE FOOD PROGRAMME AND FEED 200 CHILDREN DAILY. Go to our Donate page AND/OR make a Standing Order.
- EXISTING CAMPAIGNS
- FUNDRAISE FOR US SO THAT WE ARE ABLE TO SEND 6 MORE SEWING MACHINES TO THE NEW SEWING WORKSHOP IN RWANDA. Go to our Donate/fundraising page.
- KNIT FOR KIDS AT A SYRIAN REFUGEE CAMP Go to our Knit for Kids page.
- MAKE PILLOWCASE DRESSES & BERMUDA SHORTS FOR RWANDAN CHILDREN FROM RECYCLED DUVETS- go to our pillowcase dresses page.
- SHOP ON LINE RAISE CASH FOR CDUK https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/compassion-direct-uk/
- RAISE MONEY TO HELP US SINK A VILLAGE WELL WHERE CURRENTLY PEOPLE HAVE TO TRAVEL 7K FOR FRESH WATER
How will your donations be used? We are all vbolunteers so your donation goes so much further!
£5 will buy pencils & stationary for a school or sewing patterns
£10 will buy 10 yards of dress material
£25 will buy material, scissors, cottons
£25 will buy a bike
£50 will provide two cutting tables
£50 will buy a bike and tools for a man to be come a gardener
£150 will provide a sewing machine to teach a woman a trade
£250 to set up & buy chickens for a safe chicken pen
£500 to buy a herd of goats
£600 a month will run a food programme feeding 150 malnourished children
£2000 will sink a village well
£10,000 will begin to set up an orphanage
£15,000 will furnish an orphanage
£20,000 with run the orphanages for a year
YOUR DONATION WILL MAKE REAL CHANGES TO THE LIVES OF DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE
CDUK have provided wells, fruit trees, a woman & child development centre in S America,a school in Ghana, a Sewing Cooperative in Rwanda, vegetable gardens, wind turbines, educational materials, rainwater harvesting tanks, industrial sewing machines & workshops, latrine doors, goat herds, libraries & we send hand knitted clothing to refugees in Syria & dresses & shorts made from recycled materials by our volunteers to Rwanda.
Photos: 1. Dresses made from unwanted pillowcases for girls in Rwanda. 2. The late Bishop Enock with pigmy tribe in East Rwanda. 3. Children in Chaco north Argentina with a tree planted and watered from the well we dug for the school who had a choice before the well of paying for water or food for lunch 4. Putting in water tanks at a church school in Rwanda that fed 120 children a day, 60 of whom were orphans of HIV mothers - the food programme closed during Covid and we want to reopen it with your donations 5. The Sewing Cooperative we built to help HIV mothers learn a trade, make a living and feed themselves and their children.
FUND A FOOD PROGRAMME
Save 100's of lives give £ 5 a month or what you can afford
DONATE £5 A MONTH OR WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD TO SAVE 100's OF CHILDRENS LIVES.
We need at least 100 wonderful people to ask their bank to pay Compassion Direct UK £5 a month to help us realise our dream of getting 200 children each year educated and out of the cycle of poverty.
STOP PRESS:
WE URGENTLY NEED TO START THE FOOD PROGRAMME NOT ONLY TO FEED THE CHILDREN BU THEIR MOTHERS TOO! mANY OF THEM ARE WALKING UP TO 10K 3 TIMES A WEEK TO LEARN TO SEW SO THAT THEY CAN SELL GARMENTS TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN AND THEMSELVES, BUT THEY ARE DROPPING OUT OF TRAINING BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO WEAK TO WALK. WE NEED TO FEED THEM TOO SO THAT THEY CAN CONTINUE THEIR TRAINING
Help us RESTART A FOOD PROGRAMME AT THE LOCAL CHURCH SCHOOL.
THE PROGRAMME FOR 160 CHILDREN RAN OUT DURING COVID, MANY WERE ORPHANS WHO DEPENDED ON THE DAILY MEAL FOR SURVIVAL. CDUK WANT TO REINSTATE THE PROGRAMME SO THAT CHILDREN EAT AND GET EDUCATED OUT OF POVERTY.
WILL YOU HELP US? While you are reading this children are going hungry and you can help! Families are trapped in a cycle of poverty & mothers are dying of HIV leaving orphans dependent upon goodwill of other poor people in the villages because there are no orphanages.
YOUR DONATION WILL HELP RENEW THE FOOD PROGRAMME.
CDUK is run by professional volunteers, the charity has low overheads, around 90% of your donation will feed the children. With Gift Aid we claim tax & add 25% to your donation. Follow us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
Ask your bank to make a regular payment to Compassion Direct UK or go to our Donations page to download a Standing Order form to make a donation or you can make a quick donation on your phone, just text CDUK to 70970 to donate £5
Read below to find out more....
Pre-Covid 19 160 children attended school until a USA funded food programme ran out in 2021, now these children starve & receive no education. A free daily meal was a family’s incentive to send children to be educated, it kept children alive & took pressure off the families.
More than 60 of the children attended school free as they were orphans of HIV mothers & depended on the daily meal for life. Since Covid many have died of starvation & there are now more orphans than ever!
Pastor Phillipe ran the school, he told our chairman Ros “the school closed during Covid 19 & when Bishop Enock died & his link with the USA was lost. When the food programme ran out, without the vital incentive of a daily meal students drifted away, if we had funds for food, we could restart this valuable opportunity immediately & the children would return to eat and be educated”.
WHY DID THE FOOD PROGRAMME END?
Before Covid 19 in 2020, our chairman Ros, was researching projects & visited this once thriving church School & community centre with Bishop Enock from the Church of God’s People in Kigali. CDUK decided to help with fundamental self-help projects. In late 2020 we funded two Water Harvesting Tanks so that the school did not have to travel 7 miles for clean water. We also pledged to build a sewing workshop to help mothers with HIV learn a trade to support their children. The mothers were dying without work and the means to support their children. (We completed the Sewing Workshop in 2023 and also hope to provide a well for the village.)
COVID STRUCK
Bishop Enock died suddenly at the age of 51 from throat cancer therefore the link with the USA provider was broken & the food programme ended. Gradually pupils drifted away, the school had died & the children starved. The building stands used for Church services, before it was a thriving community hub, so much potential has been lost!
This was the situation that our chairman discovered in 2023 when she visited to equip & inspect the new sewing cooperative workshop, CDUK had funded, built behind the Church for the use of HIV mothers. The Sewing workshop run by volunteers is thriving! In time many lives will be saved. But the church school needs funds to feed their children while mothers learn!
Please help us to help this village with a proven practical project. DONATE £5 A MONTH. Read on to find out why you should donate to CDUK
WHY donate to CDUK?
If CDUK are able to fund a food programme at the Church School we can help to get more than 200 children out of poverty annually. They will grow to be useful members of their society.
BY finding 100 people who care enough to make a standing order of £5 a month we can support this village by educating & feeding their children. What a legacy! You can be part of this and know that you helped a child to learn & contribute to a better global future.
Helping people to help themselves in their native homes discourages the need to emigrate, so your donation can also help in a small way to prevent dangerous boat crossing over the channel.
Imagine the frustration of seeing your children hungry every day & knowing that you are unable to find work to earn & feed your family!
Education provides stability in life, & can never be taken away. By being well-educated you increases chances of a better future in a competitive world & can contribute to family & community.
Education provides financial security, as well as providing essential skills & can take village children & their families out of the circle of poverty. Education promotes equality, social mobility & allows self-dependency.
By joining our Special 100 wonderful people, and making a Standing Order of £5 a month you will help us to realise our dream of getting many children educated & out of the cycle of poverty. Go to our Donations page to download a Standing Order form.
Thank you for caring enough to wish to help.
PILLOWCASE DRESSES & BERMUDA SHORTS
Pillowcase Dresses & Bermuda shorts for African children
CDUK encourages recycling to conserve the earths depleted resources. . Click on the link to find out more. To send dresses made from unwanted cotton pillowslips and Bermuda shorts for boys from recycled curtain material and bed linen. If you like what we do & want to support our work, you can make a quick donation on your phone, just text CDUK to 70970 to donate £5 or go to our donate pages to give a little more. We can do nothing without your financial support. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
Learn MoreKNIT FOR KIDS IN SYRIA
Amazing donation of jumpers all from one special lady in Stratford upon Avon
EARTH IS THE HOME WE SHARE - KNITTING GROUPSAll your knitting will be sent by container to a refugee camp in Syria.
Knitting groups enable you to help others, meet new people & have fun sharing a favorite craft.
A CDUK knitting group makes your experience worthwhile as you get that feeling that comes from helping others, knowing that you are doing something useful. Even if you don’t know the person who is receiving your home made garment, knowing that it is out there in the world is a great feeling.
Joining a knitting group is sociable activity & if you are new to knitting it is a great way to pick up new ideas, share patterns, recycle unwant wool & have someone to help you through any difficult projects or explain a new technique. For knitters of all skill levels, joining a group is a wonderful way to make time for your hobby.
CDUK have sent hand knitting to Ukraine, Palestine, France & Greece.
Follow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
If you like what we do & want to support our work, you can make a quick donation on your phone, just text CDUK to 70970 to donate £5, or if you can afford to give a little more, go to our donate page. We can do nothing without your financial support. Thankyou
Take or post your knitting to Chris who lives in Kineton, near Warwick she collects & packs our shipments.
Faith Cottage
5 Bridge Street
Kineton
Warwick
CV35 OHP
Phone: 07981 667534
Below are a few tips on getting a knitting group started in your area:-
FINDING MEMBERS
- Send an email or phone friends telling them you want to start a new group & suggesting a time and place to meet up. Tell them a bit about the work of CDUK and where some of their knitting can be sent if they wish.
- Not all your knitting has to go to CDUK projects, family and friends are important too.
- Ask them to ask their friends
- Post a notice at your local knitting store, the library, church, or community notice board.
- Write to the community page of your local newspaper
- Post on your social network site – Face book, My Space or Tweet about it on Twitter
Kitted out for winter in Ukraine wearing hats & scarf from Warwickshire
- Pick a date, time and location for a getting to know you meeting
- Get everyone to introduce themselves & talk a bit about their knitting experience & maybe explain what they would like to get out of the group
- Maybe have an informal discussion about how you would all like the group to develop
- How often do you want to meet
- Where do you want to meet
- Do you want to rotate at different persons homes
- Do you want to develop a more formal meeting with talks and demonstrations
- Have a look on line for free knitting patterns, tips & ideas there is lots out there
- Ask friends for spare wool, many of us have the odd ball tucked away that we might never need.
- Get updates on our Face book page at www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome please follow us to be kept up to date
- We can provide leaflets on our work in Europe, South America & Africa.
- Our Chairman - Ros, can give a zoom talk to your group about our work or you can find out more from our website. www.compassiondirectuk.org
- CDUK can provide a charity tin so that you can collect small donations from your members at each meeting. Although we are all volunteers at CDUK we still have to find money for printing, insurance, transportation etc. & for our projects.
- We can advise you on fundraising events.
The bags - which help to identify and store patients Syringes are running out and replacements are required urgently. "It makes so much difference to our patients for them to have their own bag to store and identify their equipment" says Rachel.
Recycle your unwanted material make bags size 9 inches by 11 inches (23 x 28 cm) with Tote bag straps Send them to Rachel Johnson, Ward Clerk, Ward D9 Oncology, Box 24, Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge. CB2 0QQ
Thank you
SCHOOL ECO FUNDRAISING
Environmentally aware school fundraising teaches pupils to take care of the world on which we all depend whilst having fun and raising money for a good cause.
Students learn more about the big issues that affect us all, develop essential skills that they can transfer to other areas of their lives & the curriculum, consider their own rights & responsibilities, improve their understanding of how charities like CDUK work, build empathy for others & see their actions make a positive difference.
Scroll down to download & print the free pdf file of our fundraising ideas for your school.
A volunteer compiled this guide for us, if you would like to make a quick donation for her work of £5, text CDUK to 70970, thankyou. If you can afford to give a little more please go to our donate page. We can do nothing without your financial support. Thankyou.
If you wish to send any ideas for fun school eco fundraising contact Ros on compassiondirectuk@gmail.com
SEWING STRIPS FOR HIV MOTHERS
THERE ARE NO ORPHANAGES IN THIS RURAL AREA, BUT MANY ORPHANS OF HIV MOTHERS.!
Your support can help to prevent this!
We have more than 200 women with HIV in the village who want to learn to sew but they need to practice & sewing material is too expensive to use. As they have never sewn before they will need plenty of practice before their items are ready for sale.
WHAT YOU CAN DO!
Get together with friends & collect unwanted cotton sheets & duvet covers to make Sewing Strips to send to our Rwandan Sewing Project! Organise a coffee morning or small event to help pay for the postage of parcels.
Follow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
If you like what we do & want to support our work, you can make a quick donation on your phone, just text CDUK to 70970 to donate £5. If you can afford to give a little more go to our donate page, we can do nothing withpout your financial support. Thank you.
Cut off the hemmed edges of the sheets & the seems & fastening edges of the duvets - they can't be used for practise & are unnecessary weight to post. Please do not send artificial fibres they are not easy to use for practice.
Cut the clean material into Sewing Strips about a meter wide.
Make up a secure parcel of just under 2 kilos & post to the Church in Kigali - capital of Rwanda. they will deliver parcels to the village where they go once a month. Address below.
Parcels over 2 kilos are considered to be commercial & taxes will be charged or they will not be delivered. When you go to the post office with the parcel you will have to declare the contents. Please declare the items as Sewing Strips so that they are allowed into the country.
It would be helpful if you could let Ros know if you decide to send a parcel so that the Church can look forward to the parcel ! compassiondirectuk@gmail.com
It can take some time for parcels to arrive at the post office in Kigali, Rwanda where they have to be collected. It will help to record the TRACKING number of your parcels in case you need to make an enquiry via the post office or via Ros on the above email or by phone on 07773 470384
REMEMBER - DECLARE THAT THE CONTENTS ARE SEWING STRIPS FOR EDUCATION.
Send the parcel to
THE CHURCH OF GOD'S PEOPLE IN RWANDA
BP6595
KIGALI
RWANDA
2 Kilos will cost around £20 to post, so, you may wish to hold a coffee morning or other small fundraising event to raise the money for the postage. If you need leaflets, write to Ros at compassiondirectuk@gmail.com and she will send what you need, For more information and to keep in touch Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
We strongly advise that you do not post more than 2 boxes at the same time as they may be considered a commercial enterprise. Please do not send the strips to the charity address as we do not have money in our very tight budget to post your gifts..
DONATIONS & STANDING ORDERS
Earth is the home we share
TO MAKE A QUICK DONATION of £5 text CDUK to 70970 now or text CDUK to 70191 to donate £10
So that we are able to plan ahead,
DOWNLOAD A STANDING ORDER FORM NOW click the link below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT2IFbw_Pdaxc3M0zwfiG_HTfY6axpcQ/view?usp=sharing
WE URGENTLY NEED 100 + PEOPLE TO MAKE STANDING ORDERS SO THAT WE ARE ABLE TO RESTART A VITAL FOOD PROGRAMME AT A CHURCH SCHOOL IN RWANDA TO FEED 200 HUNGRY CHILDREN.
GIFT AID - add 25%
to make a single or regular donation to CDUK you can make it grow by 25% by downloading & signing up for Gift Aid - see below,or leave your full name & address with permission for Gift Aid on the donation form.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rUrd5qAd97YIPgWw8BsByutc208G2sfI/view?usp=sharing
SHOP & SAVE LIVES
YOUR SHOPPING CHOICE IS FROM 7000 BIG BRANDS WHO DONATE UP TO 4% TO COMPASSION DIRECT UK. Click the link below to sign up. You will not receive spam as a result!
You could be helping to feed a child in Africa on a food programme & give them a chance through education to contribute usefully to the world.
You could be helping CDUK to make the lives of the TWA pigmy's who live on the boarders of Rwanda and DCR - Congo, sustainable. they have been driven from their traditional lands to mountains where they can't make a living. We hope to provide them with goats herds and water harvesting tanks.
"EASY FUNDRAISING" DONATES TO US WHEN YOU SHOP ONLINE WITHOUT YOU PAYING A PENNY EXTRA, YOU WILL NOT BE BOTHERED BY JUNK OR HAVE YOUR DATA SHARED.
REGISTER WITH EASY FUNDRAISING TO SUPPORT COMPASSION DIRECT UK & ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO SUPPORT US TOO.
Click on the link to sign up to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/compassion-direct-uk/
If you like what we do & want to support our work, you can make a quick donation on your phone, just text CDUK to 70970 to donate £5
Shopping with Easy Fundraising wont cost you any extra, takes only a minute to sign up, a popup reminds you automatically when you go to one of the 7000 sites, you just accept, we automatically get a donation when you have finished shopping and you do no more but shop in peace.
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/compassion-direct-uk/
Amazon does not support this, they have withdrawn from charitable donations.
CONTACT
- 5 Skippon's Court, Naseby, Northampton, UK
- Registered charity number 1113505
- +44-07773470384 - Chairman of Trustees
- compassiondirectuk@gmail.com
- Mon-Fri - 08:00-19:00
We are always glad to hear from our supporters! Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome
PROJECTS
REACH OUT TO RWANDA
A donation, fundraising or a Standing Order of £5 a month can help CDUK to provide a food programme at the school to feed 150 children a day with the only meal they have.
THE FOOD PROGRAMME FEEDS THE ORPHANS
Your donation could provide much needed sewing machines so that more women can be taught to sew and make a living to support their children.
In a rural area of Eastern Rwanda in Gatsibo Province is a Church supporting many poor villagers of different faiths including 100's of women with HIV who are dying because they have no food to take with their free medication, Ros - our Chairman, met 70 women during her research visit in March 2020. The women had HIV due to the legacy of the Genocide of 1994.
A Pastor at the Church had formed an HIV support group, the woman told Ros that there were many more women who could not attend nor could their children go to the school as they were too ill to travel & had no decent clothes & were ashamed.
Some of the women who work on the land tried to help the others & said that they saved a tiny amount each week for coffins so that they could be decently buried. This is their immediate future without food or work as they are unable to take their medication without eating, so they know that if they go hungry, they will die very soon & their children will have to fend for themselves.
CDUK were committed to provide a sewing workshop/cooperative for these women so that they are able to make & sell clothes at the market, provide food for themselves &their families & survive.
IN MARCH 2023 CDUK BUILT A SEWING COOPERATIVE AS WE HAD PROMISED BUT we could only afford 4 machines and need 6 more for the 100's of women who want to learn to save their lives and live to support their children. Can you help?
We run the workshop using solar power to reduce the impact on the environment & overhead costs of maintaining the project. We will be planting fruit trees around the building for shade & sustenance. CAN YOU DONATE TO BUY A TREE?
We hope the HIV mothers will not need the coffins so soon as they will be able to eat, take their medication, earn a living & look after their children safely. Please help us to achieve this goal.
In 2020 the Church also hosted a school with a food programme where more than 150 children received a daily meal & often, that was all the children had to eat in a week. At least 60 of the children attended school free because they were orphans or had mothers with HIV, who were unable to get work as no one would work with them & so they & their children went hungry due to lack of income & the mothers soon died leaving orphans.
There are no orphanages in this area and orphans have to depend upon the food programme at the Church or the good will of a poor rural community.
Go to our page to make a standing order of £5 a month, we only need 100 generous people to start the programme again!
In the summer of 2020 CDUK provided the Church School with two water harvesting tanks to support the Church Food Programme & supply clean water for food preparation & better hygiene. Many thousands of young children a year die as a result of polluted water. Previously the Church collected fresh water in tanks by bike from many miles away for cooking & used rain water from muddy puddles or polluted streams for washing.
CDUK wants to sink a well near the Church for village use by people of all faiths. Currently the only clean water has to be collected & paid for at a government water source seven miles away at approximately the equivalent of one penny per litre
Volunteers have been making dresses for the girls from unwanted pillow cases and Bermuda shorts for the boys from recycled materials, they have held fundraising events to raise the money for postage to the project.
For more information on dress & shorts patterns & how you can get involved go to our page on Pillowcase Dresses. People are also being asked to donate good quality unwanted duvets & sheets to send out to the sewing workshop as Sewing Strips so that the women who are learning to sew can practice on less expensive materials. Send them in maximum 2 kilo packs, see separate pages for more details.
Watch a video
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ixTGbzjWPP6N250ob13AvgP8H5YC3AOj/view?usp=sharing
VOLUNTEERING WITH CDUK
Raise funds, have fun, meet new people, do something wonderful today
"Be the change you want to see in the world" M Ghandi. Giving is not just about making a donation it is about helping to make a difference.
Learn More
Equipement, insurance & how we support you.
The boring but useful stuff! How do we support you?
Learn More
Setting up a Knitting Group
Knitting groups enable you to meet new people & have fun sharing a favorite craft.
Learn More
How do CDUK raise money -can you help?
“No one has ever become poor from giving.” – Anne Frank
Learn MorePOLICIES
OUR TRUSTEE TEAM
Ros Grant
Chair of Trustees
Ros is the founder of CDUK and CEO, she believes that we have the power to change the world we live in for the better and is a keen environmentalist.
Chris Cartwright
Trustee
Chris spent time in Africa which inspired her to do all she could to help people to help themselves. She is the main collection point for our Knit for Kids project.
Leandro Ghezzi
Trustee
Leo is Argentinean and has been with CDUK from the start. He advises us on South American culture and translates Spanish for us and updates our policy's, we can't stop him planting trees!.
EARTH IS THE HOME WE SHARE
CDUK's strapline is 'Earth is the Home we Share' this phrase underpins all our work.
Watch video "why people cross the channel in small boats to get to UK"
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1saeEbno7gzUfrqVrdd89KzQX9sX09iu7/view?usp=sharing
We believe that everyone on this planet is interdependent & that we are all in some way interrelated. We live in a global economy, we eat foods from all over the world, we export & import goods & services; sea & air pollution is blown by winds, spread by tides, climate change & environmental degradation is a global challenge for us all, so in a nut shell.
Global challenges require global solutions, they require educated minds from all over the world to come together to make the vital decisions that are needed to sustainably maintain our planet for future generations.
Imagine that maybe one of the children from one of CDUK's international projects, e.g. the Kyebi Primary School in Ghana which our supporters funded, maybe will become someone who is part of this enormous & vital global decision making process when they are adult? Imagine the goodwill if that child remembers the assistance that was given at an early age by people in the UK who cared, to their school? What goes around comes around!
What is more when the UK aids developing countries it also creates a market for our own economy, do while we are helping others we are also helping ourselves.
We are all aware of the importance of education in the UK, please help us to facilitate education & environmental sustainability at our projects
Please go to our projects page to find out more
HISTORY OF CDUK
In 2002 Ros – our chairman, & founder, visited family in Quilmes, Buenos Aires in Argentina. She was horrified at the poverty & destitution she saw in parts of the city & its environs.
An educationalist – Daniel De Scala, visited Ros & asked for her help as he had heard that she had always worked for charities in the UK. He knew that people in the UK were very generous but that they did not know much about the poverty in South America & the awful economic crash that had occurred in Argentina in 2000/2001 when the AR Peso was devalued by two thirds. Many thousands of people lost their jobs & their homes in the crash & became destitute consequently more shanty towns grew in many areas including Quilmes. They desperately needed help!
Daniel took Ros on a tour of the shanty towns – Villas, surrounding Quilmes. Ros agreed to try to help a Soup kitchen – Comador, that fed 130 destitute children twice a day – Luz Del Alma (Light of the Soul).
Ros wrote to friends, sending photos & asking for a donation of £5. When she returned to the UK some weeks later, she had to open a bank account for the generous donations that had arrived. One thing led to another, fundraising continued, Trustees were recruited & Compassion Direct UK, became registered in 2004 after a generous donation of £500 from Banbury Rotary Club.
Ros had semi-retired from being self-employed for some years after working for The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for many years as a Regional Manager. Shortly before her visit to Argentina she had intended to continue a part time Training business that had been part of her previous PR business. Somehow the training never got started because CDUK took over Ros’s life.
During this time CDUK raised money to build a security wall and gates at the Comador, built a homework room & sewing workshop for children and parents, a store room for dried food & recruited a group of local volunteers to maintain continued assistance & support to this project. As CDUK grew other projects followed &new directions were pursued.
Photos, man going to a stream for water in a shanty town, Argentina, children of mothers with HIV in Rwanda, who will soon be orphans, children living in a shanty town in winter, Argentina
WANT TO BE A TRUSTEE?
Because we are a small organisation, our trustees don't just make policy decisions round a table, we are a hands on organisation, we get down to grass roots & get involved in our local areas when we can.
Depending upon the time we have available & our personal skills, we do PR, admin, IT, applications for funds, plan strategy, or organise fundraising events, etc. working with other volunteers & local groups in the area. Working to our strengths & discussing what works with the chairman, other trustees & relevant volunteers.
HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE BEING A TRUSTEE?
Most importantly we agree what time we have available & plan our workload within the time we are able to give. You may only have 1 hour a week available but if you put your mind to it, it is amazing what can be achieved in an hour when working to a plan & within a team. 1 hour or 1 day a week we can find a way to make your time count. But we prefer it if you enjoy what you are doing with CDUK & that you have some fun along the way as well as job satisfaction.
CAN I WORK FROM HOME?
Our team work remotely & meet up on Zoom or Skype etc. & at the AGM once a year. We are too busy doing what needs to be done to call meetings all the time, but we do keep in touch regularly & chat online. Facebook & Twitter keeps us up to date as does the website. This is the new normal.
IS THERE A FINANCIAL LIABILITY IN BEING A TRUSTEE?
The Trustees have a policy of never promising what we can't afford to deliver. That means that if we don't have the cash in the bank we don't do the project. This way Trustees do not have to concern themselves that we might go overdrawn or get into debt for which they might be liable. We just don't do it! Then we can all relax!
We decide what we want to do, raise the money - if we don't already have it, & do the project. Neither do we promise to projects what we can't fulfil.
We prefer that you work with us for a short time as a volunteer before becoming a trustee. Then when you get the feel of the organisation we can talk over where you feel your strengths lie & how we can fit them to a role. All trustees work a minimum 6 months probationary period & while during that time their views will be taken into account they will not be allowed to vote until they have completed their probation. They can still be part of the debate and suggestions for change.
So, if you are interested in joining the team give our chairman a call on 07773470384 or fill in the contact box on this site & we can take it from there. We are all volunteers here at CDUK , join us!
