It’s my birthday and I am turning 60 years old today.

Earlier in the year I had been thinking I wanted to have a quiet birthday as I felt turning 60 was something to be sad about, but my daughter Nikola, told me very clearly this was one birthday we were going to tell everyone about and celebrate loudly. She decided this was a birthday to be proud of, one we should go somewhere special together or do something really fun together. She was right

Many of you know that I have been going through a major transition over the last four years after my marriage of nearly four decades ended. Good things come out of everything, especially the hardest things and during this last year I have come alive with a new passion and purpose. I love the impact Global Angels has on the ground. I am genuinely waking up every morning excited about the work we are doing on the Tsavo Project and have a powerful drive to transform the Itinyi Valley in Kenya and the lives of the 14,000 people living there.

I have been pondering how to make the most of this birthday and to celebrate in a way that really makes a significant difference.

What I would love more than anything else is for everyone around the world who loves me and loves the work I do, to join with me in this celebration by each giving £60 or $60 (more if you can afford it, or less of course if you can’t.

Be assured that all donations for this campaign will go direct to the projects.

The 60:60:60 Campaign

My aim is to raise £60,000 over the next 60 days and £600,000 this year. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could raise this much?

What will we use the 60:60:60 funds for?

• To develop our new organic farm

– Providing work and income for the locals

– Providing nutrition for local families

• Terracing land for agriculture and preventing soil erosion

• Build a factory to process what is grown in the shade houses

• Provide easy access to water across the valley

– Safe drinking water

– Drill four community boreholes with shade houses

– Build six water catchment dams and 20 storage tanks

• Provide start-up funds for 20-50 small businesses

• Furnish a maternity unit

• Provide two motor bike ambulances for inaccessible areas

• Build housing for volunteers & local staff

Right across the valley we will be building water pans, digging boreholes, building shade houses, training the local families how to manage them well, grow crops that thrive in this climate, pooling resources and developing multiple channels to market.

It’s a huge project but entirely possible if we bring in the resources from all our Angels and Corporate Partners. Let’s see what we can do together!

We have created a donation page specially for the 60:60:60 Campaign. LINK HERE TO DONATE PAGE

We will be sharing the campaign across social media and giving ideas on how to raise money, sharing your stories of how you raised funds and progress on what is happening on the ground.

Please use the hashtag #globalangels60 when you post, so that we can see what you’re up to!

Thank you for joining with me and for being an Angel

Love,
Molly
xx

PS: Today I am in Los Angeles with my family and loving being a grandmother for the first time, double celebrations as Natasha has recently given birth to a darling baby boy and a few days ago my son Joshua and his beautiful girlfriend Ceri announcing their engagement.

Richard Harries

Why I’m walking from Lands End to John O’Groats to support Global Angels.

Richard Harries, 67, is walking a thousand miles in seven weeks to raise funds for us. He’s spent his life helping people, in his work as a cardio-radiologist and through volunteering as a first responder in emergency situations. Now he’s taking on the adventure of a lifetime to support some of the poorest people in the world. Richard is a truly inspirational, yet humble man. We interviewed him to find out what makes him tick, why everyone should be an adventurer and how he’ll complete his unaided challenge.

Tell us how this challenge came about?

Well, a couple of years ago I started reading adventure books on ocean rowing and mountain climbing. I had an idea in my head that I’d do Lands End to John O’Groats as a warm up for a really big adventure!

Why are you supporting Global Angels?

Once I’d decided on the walk, I started looking for a charity to support and I came across Global Angels. I just liked their ethos and the fact that it’s a small charity without a corporate agenda. The personal element was important to me too, Molly oversees the projects, she’s helping people in very poor environments and it’s really got heart.  

And of course, there’s the adventure element – Bear Grylls is a keen supporter of Molly!

I know you love a challenge, tell us what about your adventures?

Ever since I was a child I’ve gravitated towards challenges of all kinds. But it’s only really since I semi-retired in 2004 (and stopped smoking) that it’s all developed. I channelled my energy into running at first. I started to take it really seriously and ran seven marathons, then I climbed Kilimanjaro and completed a Bear Grylls survival course – that really pushed me to the limits! It’s all led me to take on bigger and bigger challenges.

So tell us more about the walk

Well, it’s going to take me about seven weeks overall and the road distance is 874 miles but I think it will be more like 1000 when walking. Originally, I planned to do 25 miles a day but I injured my leg about a month before the start of the walk. I actually couldn’t walk for a couple of days. It’s gradually got better but I’ve reduced my daily mileage. I’m starting with 9 to 10 miles then will work up to 12- 15 and towards Scotland. Hopefully I’ll be will up to 20 maximum a day.

What will you take with you?

I’ve built a trailer to pull behind me so I don’t have to carry a rucksack and will have everything I need with me. I’ve got a one man tent, which I’ve practised staying out in over the winter. My one luxury is a camp bed, it’s lightweight and keeps me off the ground. I’ve got a burner for making tea and soup so I will either wild camp or knock on doors as I go and ask if I can stay. I’ll also stop off at pubs for an evening meal.

What are your key stop offs?

• Milestones 1: Launceston, Cornwall – where I was born and Mum still lives there

• Milestone 2: Exeter where my brother and wife live

• Milestone 3 Derbyshire – Blore Hall

• Milestone 4: Preston – to see my other brother

• Milestone 5: Borders of Scotland

What do you think will be the main challenges?

The physical tiredness will be hard. But I think what will challenge me will be the loneliness and being away from home.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking of doing an extreme challenge?

When you get to 67 it brings life into sharp focus. I look at the road ahead and you never know what’s around the corner. The saying goes “it could be a new corner or the bitter end!” So I want to live life as hard as I can and as brightly as I can. It’s exciting! One of the messages I’d like to get across is that no matter what your age or condition, there’s an adventure for you.

What’s your key motivation for doing this challenge?

• That anyone can take on an adventure!

• Pollution is such a big issue for us all. If I can walk this far at my age I hope it inspires someone to leave their car at home for a day.

• To raise awareness of poverty and Global Angels’s community based approach.

Donate to support Richard and Global Angels. If you’d like to donate, you can do so here.

You can also send Richard a message of support via his Facebook page and follow his route, or join him for a day of walking.

https://www.facebook.com/rwjharries?hc_ref=ARRrLgghbE6nneT6a5qb459DVVFDJQXiLTQiOWzCw4IJpdJmtKLbFP6gw9E4O8xPNa4

Richard is raising money for our project in Tsavo, Kenya. Every penny of the donations raised by him will go directly to provide water, education and business opportunities to the very poorest of people in the region. Right across the valley we will be building water pans, digging boreholes, building shade houses, training the local families how to manage them well, grow crops that thrive in this climate, pooling resources and developing multiple channels to market.

It was five years ago that Molly first visited the Itinyi Valley, in Tsavo, Kenya. She was filled with compassion for the women and children she found walking 10-15 kms a day for water taken from open air water pan dams – the only water most of them had access to and it was being shared with cows, goats and wild animals. Molly became determined to do all she could to empower them and to transform the valley.

The Itinyi Valley has been one of the poorest communities in Kenya, facing huge obstacles just to survive, intensified with climate change. This is a semi-arid area and the increasing periods of drought are a challenge, but we believe that by utilising many sustainable and organic solutions we can effectively turn things around. This community needs us and others to come alongside them and work with them for this to be achieved.

Teaching and modelling by example is one of the most successful ways to change ingrained behaviour in community practices. As we are successful here, this will also be our showcase of how we transform communities and inspire others.

Global Angels Empowerment Fund
Through our Angel Empowerment Fund we will be giving £200 startup loans for women and young people to develop small businesses on their land holdings – businesses such as bee keeping, as well as goat and chicken farms. That same £200, when repaid, will provide a loan for another “entrepreneur” in the community. In five years, your £200 will have given four entrepreneurs the chance to become successful and it will keep on giving and giving. This is a great example of how we make it easy for you to make a difference

I would like to encourage you to consider making the Tsavo Project a community you are passionate to support. It’s one of a few projects you can actually come with me on a volunteer trip and perfect for choosing a specific resource to fundraise for in your company, as a group or individually – as a marathon runner for example.
If you would like to get involved directly on the ground on one of our projects and are able to visit one of our communities with us then please contact us, we’d love to hear from you!

A few weeks ago I returned with Renate from Tsavo, Kenya and I have just visited again for a week to visit our team and witness the completion of our office and two brand new rainwater catchment dams.

We fly out again April 16 and are joined by a volunteer team on the 21st, returning May 1st. The work is gaining momentum as the team prepare for the rains and new season’s planting. Next, on the list is to build the factory and mill to be ready for the July- August harvest.

So far we’ve have harvested millet, sorghum, watermelons, kale and spinach, new potatoes and coriander, tomatoes, pigeon peas and green grams. The women in the Tsavo community are really excited to be able to purchase fresh vegetables from us as they have had to travel for miles with so little sold locally. We have been testing out what the best crops are for this soil and climate, learning the skills of organic gardening competing with bugs and caterpillars who love our crops, while developing our own seedbeds, grow bags and drip irrigation.

I have been excited and inspired to pioneer and manage the Tsavo Project in Kenya and build a local team to run everything. Working closely with Mercy Ngaruiya, our Regional Community Co-Ordinator, we are training Jared and Mercy, our two young community co-ordinators and Jackson, our Youth Programme Manager. We are teaching them project management skills as they run and develop our model organic farm with local women as members of their team, and skills to manage our building work with local masons, builders, plumbers, electricians, JCB and tractor drivers. We are successfully developing new job opportunities for unemployed youth in the area.

Mercy Ngaruiya is lovingly and respectfully known in the area as ‘Mama Mercy’. She also liaises with community leaders and the local women’s groups and is key to our success in the area.

Andre Retief, a member of our Advisory Board, is supporting us to achieve our vision and goals, primarily at the planning and design level. He is a renowned hydrologist, agronomist and consultant, and brings a wealth of experience, wisdom and knowledge. Andre is a great asset in building a replicable model to roll across the Itinyi Valley, the wider Tsavo region and into rural projects in other countries in the future.

Our UK Board members are helping drive our vision. Our Chairman, Henrik Schoett-Kjaergaard, has a background in agriculture, farming and building. He is a successful entrepreneur and brings his business, coaching and team building skills to support our projects. Mark Eddison, one of our long term Trustees, is a business leader and a respected Architect who has donated much of his time to designing buildings for charity projects in Africa alongside growing his architectural business in the UK.

It is really encouraging to see how we are engaging as a team and to see the results. Our entrepreneur chicken farmers, supported by our Angel Empowerment, 0% interest loans, are developing well, but have been slowed down by the need for farmers to travel for two hours to purchase expensive chicken feed. In addition, the price of corn for their hens has doubled this year resulting in a crippling effect on profit margins that was threatening the success of the chicken project.

On our organic farm, our workers are growing millet, sorghum and other crops. We anticipate having our mill fully operational by July 2018, delivering a superior nutritious chicken feed from our crops to the local farmers at vastly reduced prices. We will be developing our own model chicken farm to be used as a teaching tool and support to the chicken farmers. We are also developing our land model to showcase how farmers can be profitable even on a small piece of land. We will show that they can grow their own feed once they have effective water harvesting on the land and use drip methods of irrigation. We have expanded the loans to include supporting goat farmers and women developing their own sewing business.

To date, all first round loans have been repaid in full. Our second round of loaning Angel Empowerment funds to entrepreneurs has begun to be paid back by all recipients. Our dream is to expand this agricultural project to include growing and selling chia, moringa and other exotic antioxidants abroad and to invest earned funds back into the community. Longer term there is scope for bringing school children to our project to learn first hand about effective farming and water harvesting methods, and to help them set up models in their homes and schools to supplement their nutrition.

Next Volunteer Trips Renate and I are leading a team of volunteers to the Tsavo project 21-27th April, June 12-17 and Sept 22-28. There are still a few spaces we would love you to join us.

Here is the link for more information. Take a look at one of our shade houses complete with lines with drip irrigation, along with our lovely organic farming team working on grow bags, and our first crops in the fields. These ladies work so hard, learn fast and we are so pleased with them:

Right across the valley we will be building water pans, digging boreholes, building shade houses, training the local families how to manage them well, grow crops that thrive in this climate, pooling resources and developing multiple channels to market.

It was five years ago that I first visited the Itinyi Valley, in Tsavo, Kenya. I was filled with compassion for the women and children I found walking 10-15 kms a day for water taken from open air water pan dams – the only water most of them had access to and it was being shared with cows, goats and wild animals. I determined to do all I could to empower them and to transform the valley.

The Itinyi Valley has been one of the poorest communities in Kenya, facing huge obstacles just to survive, intensified with climate change. This is a semi-arid area and the increasing periods of drought are a challenge, but we believe that by utilising many sustainable and organic solutions we can effectively turn things around. The Itinyi Valley community needs us and others to come alongside them and work with them for this to be achieved.

Teaching and modelling by example is one of the most successful ways to change ingrained behaviour in community practices. As we are successful here, this will also be our showcase of how we transform communities and inspire others.

Global Angels Empowerment Fund
Through our Angel Empowerment Fund we will be giving £200 startup loans for women and young people to develop small businesses on their land holdings – businesses such as bee keeping, as well as goat and chicken farms. That same £200, when repaid, will provide a loan for another “entrepreneur” in the community. In five years, your £200 will have given four entrepreneurs the chance to become successful and it will keep on giving and giving. This is a great example of how we make it easy for you to make a difference

I would like to encourage you to consider making the Tsavo Project a community you are passionate to support. It’s one of a few projects you can actually come with me on a volunteer trip and perfect for choosing a specific resource to fundraise for in your company, as a group or individually – as a marathon runner for example.
If you would like to get involved directly on the ground on one of our projects and are able to visit one of our communities with us then please fill in the form below, we’d love to hear from you!

Become a Corporate Angel 

Robert Walters Group is one of our Corporate Partners.  Caroline Watkin, Group Communications Director from Robert Walters, tells us about the experience of visiting Tsavo and the benefits of partnering with us. 

“I first went to the Itinyi Valley, Tsavo in June 2016, acting as a ‘path finder’ to find out more about Global Angels work on behalf of my company, Robert Walters, a global recruitment consultancy.  Giles Daubeney, our Deputy CEO was keen to find a corporate charity partner for the Group to complement the work each business is doing with local charities.

My experience in Tsavo was life-changing and I could see there was an amazing opportunity for our business to make a real difference to the community in the Itinyi Valley over the long-term. We were also attracted by the fact that we could choose to support projects that aligned with our purpose as a business. I recommended that we support Global Angels and suggested some projects where I’d seen a real need. Marungu Secondary school needed a new classroom – we saw the one class standing outside in the heat trying to learn and now they’ll be able to focus properly – particularly those approaching exam time. 

Making a difference 

It’s always hard to know whether you’ll be able to make a real difference when you partner with a charity work but when I returned in June 2017 so much had changed.  For example, last year I helped the women’s community group do research into egg incubators so they could set up chicken businesses. We found the best incubators, sourced a supplier and just as we were leaving the incubator arrived from Mombasa. A year on and the women have paid off their loans and now there are hundreds of chickens at varying stages of growth! I can’t tell you how exciting it was to be a very small part of that. The women have eggs and meat for their families and can sell the rest. Their entrepreneurial spirit was inspiring and made me feel I could achieve anything. 

A sustainable future 

Last year the maize harvest had failed due to the drought (maize needs a lot of water to grow) so we went to visit some sustainable shade netting houses – they are like ‘reverse green houses’ if you like and it’s is all about growing crops with a reduced water need. This year the women took their learning and built a very small shade house. They all had their own small tubs of crops growing too. But they wanted to start a bigger project and Molly asked for our help to build two large shade houses. We thought it would be a great project to sponsor and Robert Walters donated the money. When I returned in November 2017 so much work had been done, I just couldn’t believe the scale of it! The land had been terraced to gather as much rain water as possible, the fencing built to deter elephants and the structure of the houses built. When we arrived we were ready to sew the nets for the shade houses. 

We bring eight staff a year to Tsavo, as a staff incentive and as part of our CSR strategy and the group worked with the Tumaini Women’s Community Group to make the nets. It was a special experience working alongside the women and we all learned from each other.  When we raised the nets over the framework for the houses it was a magical moment and one of the women ran to get a drum and we had a completely spontaneous sing and dance to celebrate. There was much hugging and we all felt we’d made a connection with the community.  

The shade houses will help save lives, make the community independent and give kids a better chance at school if they’re not so hungry. The eventual plan is to export crops like Moringa to create sustainable jobs and a local economy.

Global Angels is a very special charity. Molly Bedingfield is an amazing person and looks for projects where she can truly partner with local communities. Her vision came to life before my eyes in the year since I’d been away. I’d really love everyone reading this to be inspired and to see how small changes can make a big difference to people’s lives. You can make change happen and anyone can be an Angel.” 

If you’d like to find out more about becoming a Corporate Angel, call Molly today on x or email x. Corporate Angels allow us to keep our promise that 100% of public donations go to projects on the ground. 

What an amazing time we had in Tsavo with volunteers joining us from around the world, including film maker Phil Jenkins, photographer Afshin Feiz, Caroline Watkins and her team from Robert Walters along with Kane from Abraxys Global. Each trip seems to get better and more enjoyable. It’s exciting to see everyone really get involved and to so quickly engage with each other and become a team. If you are following us on our new Instagram and our Facebook group you will have seen some of the photos Afshin took and seen some of the highlights. New film footage is coming soon Together the team began doing the hard graft of preparing the foundations of our new Community Farm Centre.

Renate and I are preparing for our next follow up trip in June to work with our team in Tsavo, Kenya and will be joined by Board Member and architect Mark Eddison. Right now, our on the ground leaders in Tsavo, Jackson and Jared are working with a team of local young men to build our Community Farm Centre. They are aiming to complete it by July, ready for our harvest of green grams, pigeon peas and chia. We are being donated the funds to purchase and install a mill to grind grains for local families and also a grinder to make mash for chicken feed. With these we will be able to make a huge difference and begin the next phase of our plan for developing our model farm to train and support the local community.

Collecting and Storing Water – the key to success
As you know collecting and storing enough water is the key to everything being successful or not here in the Itinyi Valley.  As part of our solution to provide water for our organic farm and for the local community we have dug three massive water pan dams on our farm which have the combined capacity to hold 1 million cubic meters of water.

These open water pans have a high level of evaporation so we need further covered storage once the water is captured.  As part of the solution so far we have only built one masonry storage tank with a capacity of 150,000 litres and have purchased  110,00 litres of plastic tank storage.
Each masonry tank is made by our local young men including making the bricks themselves. It’s a fascinating process and I love seeing the bricks all laid out. They can make 600-800 a day. It also shows the level of poverty as many of the labourers come with flip flops and don’t own proper shoes or let alone safety shoes.

Anyone wanting to help us get shoes for them would be welcome

Our Urgent Need to Prepare for the Next Rains
We are expecting the next rains between October and December. With that in mind we are focused on completing everything we need to collect and store the coming rain water so we have enough water for the crops we are growing on the organic farm and in the shade houses.

To accomplish this we need funds to:

• line the three water pan with a 5 inch/13cm layer of silt clay mixed with a chemical to harden it so that it holds the water for the months during the dry season. We will need 180 tons or six 30 ton truckloads of silt clay for the lining. £2,900
• make silt traps and settling tanks for filtering water from the pans into the masonry tank £2,000
• fit guttering on the large Community Resource Centre we built in 2015. £490
• build two 150,000 litre masonry tank to collect and store rain water from guttering of the Resource Centre and new Community Farm Centre £5500 each.
• build a third 150,000 litre masonry tank to store water from the water pans to provide water for our crops in the shade houses and the farm. £5500 each.

Here is our team building the new Community Farm Centre with me and our project managers Jared and Jackson. You can see the foundations and the design plans of the finished product

Walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats for Tsavo
Great news  – our friend Richard Harries has successfully walked all the way from Lands End to John O’Groats. He raised over £4000 to help us build the water pans and water storage.  It took him several weeks and we are really proud of his achievement. He spoke on radio and tv and shared the message of Global Angels to whomever would listen.. what a journey. 

This is the running/marathon or half marathon season. Please let us know if you are running any where for Global Angels so we can support you. Kane Simpson and the Abraxys Team are running again this year. So encouraging to have so many Angels

Amazon Smile
Really excited about Amazon.. I use it so much and I found out they have an option called Amazon Smile. Every time I buy something through my smile.amazon.co.uk , smile.amazon.com access to Amazon, Global Angels gets a donation from Amazon.. it’s so easy and costs me nothing extra.  Global Angels is one of the charities they support.. Please try it

Next Volunteer Trips
Renate and I are leading a team of volunteers to the Tsavo project Sept 22-28. There are still a few spaces we would love you to join us.  Here is the link for more information.

Today, I would like to share with you something close to my heart which motivates me to jump out of bed every morning looking forward to the day. Sometimes, I have moments when I’m overwhelmed by the privilege and opportunity of working in the charity field, trusted with funds to empower those in less fortunate situations.

I would like to encourage you to consider making the Tsavo Project a community you are passionate to support. It’s one of a few projects you can actually come with me on a volunteer trip and perfect for choosing a specific resource to fundraise for in your company, as a group or individually – as a marathon runner for example.
If you would like to get involved directly on the ground on one of our projects and are able to visit one of our communities with us then please fill in the form below, we’d love to hear from you!

I would like to encourage you to consider making the Tsavo Project a community you are passionate to support. It’s one of a few projects you can actually come with me on a volunteer trip and perfect for choosing a specific resource to fundraise for in your company, as a group or individually – as a marathon runner for example.
If you would like to get involved directly on the ground on one of our projects and are able to visit one of our communities with us then please fill in the form below, we’d love to hear from you!