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Of the nearly nine million school aged children in England, the majority will be at home today as the UK enters another period of lock down. This is hard for us, this is hard for our children and hard for the half a million teachers and support staff who are working night and day, reacting to decisions they have no control over, working in environments and under conditions that are very different to normal. Our schools are places of learning but they are also places of safety, laughter, they are places where our children make friendships and memories. If we take one thing from this past year, it is that we shouldn’t take what we have for granted, it may not be perfect but we certainly feel it when it's taken away from us.
At KnownValuedLoved we know the importance of education - it’s why we exist. This week we launch another project in Afghanistan, to add to our first project in Lebanon. I love seeing the passion and desire of teachers in other parts of the world working to make a difference in the lives of the children in their communities - just as we see everyday here in the UK.
Today we were due to launch our New Year Appeal, asking people to support us financially by setting up a regular monthly donation. Showing people where their donation would go, who we are working with and where. This morning however I had a wobble. Is it the right thing to do? Is the timing right? Is this too insensitive, given the circumstances? Will we get the response we need?
But here's the reality;
Even without the global pandemic, today 264 million children worldwide don’t go to school, 60 million of these are primary aged. Reasons being; because they are girls, because of war, because they have disabilities, because of poverty, because there are not enough teachers! Their future being defined by circumstances completely out of their control.
So I made the decision to push ahead with our plans, To make the ask! - Education Can’t Wait!
So if you are in a position to, please respond to our posts. Go to our website and make a donation, support our appeals. We can’t stop but we need your help. If you can’t help in this way there are so many other ways you can help! Keep following our social media posts to find out how.
2021 is a big year for us, we have plans to work in more countries, with more schools and NGO’s, working hard to ensure that quality education is available and accessible to all children. However hard it is to ask for help, we need to, because we can’t do this without you.
Andy
