Thursday 2 March 2017

We must do IT for our kids

Where would we be without computer technology?
For a start you wouldn't be reading this.
And as for our Happy House, it probably wouldn't exist.
The advent of computer technology made our world smaller and put us in reach of each other.
It impacts on every area of our daily life.
Without it, Mama would not have been able to reach out to find individuals and organisations to support her charity and to build her dream.
A dream that is making a difference to the lives of hundreds of children born into poverty or despair.
When I first met her in the small Blackpool hotel she and papa owned, she was spending most of every day (and night) at her laptop trying to find funding to enable her to create her Happy House.
A badly smashed heel in 2009, and other illnesses that have befallen her since, have not stopped her working because having a computer made it possible.
When, a little over two years after opening the Happy House, Mama and Papa were forced to spend many months in the UK while she was treated for breast cancer, it was computers that ensured our kids knew their Mama and Papa were safe.
It was a difficult and emotional time, but telling the kids she and papa were busy fundraising ( and that was true too), she could reassure them and listen and watch as they excitedly told her what they'd been up to.
Mama in Blackpool 2009

Computers enable us to speak to you directly, to bring you our daily news and for you to stay in touch with our work and your sponsor children.
We may never have met, but we feel as though we know you and hope you feel that you know all of us.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have turned strangers from every continent into our friends as they;ve discovered Happy House via the internet and social media.
In every walk of life, computers have a huge impact - we are a digital society, this is the digital age.
That is why we must ensure the students in Happy House School, kids who've had the worst start in life, learn IT from kindergarten upwards.
To do this we must have the tools for the job. 
We have a dedicated computer room, but not enough computers for each individual in a class. This holds up lessons and learning.
 We must buy five new machines, and processing units to repair three more.
This comes to a total of £3,500. To date our Let's Do IT Appeal has raised £635.
Please, could you make a donation,  hold a little fundraiser with your friends, collect your loose change, give up chocolate for Lent and donate what you save or do something more inventive to help take us to our target.
If you need any help or support with leaflets, publicity, etc, please email me: elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net I'd be happy to help
We know how hard you work and how many pressures you have, but please help us if you can.
Computers have changed our sophisticated world, we do not want our children to be left behind.
Please donate at https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/childrenofwatamu/letsdoit