BCT 4th Quarter Report
Drawing a line under 2019; BCT 4th Quarter Report
October 2019 – December 2019
The last few months of 2019 were busy for BCT.
The report below highlights just some of the projects which took place in the run up to and during the festive period.This list is not exhaustive, so please check out our website for all ongoing projects. A huge thank you as always to our partners, supporters and donors, without whom these projects would not be possible!
Food Aid
With heavy rainfall this winter, extreme flooding has spread nationwide, affecting many villages in Kenya where the destitute already live in struggling conditions. Our Partners on the ground have travelled far and wide distributing vital supplies as an emergency response to the many unable to reach basic amenities. In response to the disastrous flooding a central location for distribution was set up and 11.3 tonnes of food and water purification tablets were distributed to a total of 539 families from the worst affected villages in Kenya.
Adult Literacy Programme
BCT continues to sponsor programmes which facilitates further learning and enhancing vital skills for men and women desperate to have any hope in escaping poverty. The photos on the right show the students from one of these programmes which took place in Gaba Village, Kenya, on Christmas Day 2019.
Eye Camps
The eye camps have continued providing an additional 819 sight restoring cataract surgeries to the needy across villages in Kenya and Tanzania. This brings our total thus far in 2019 to over 80 eye camps and just over 3300 cataract operations!
Housing
BCT continues on its quest to provide decent housing for the most impoverished. An example of this is an 82 year old widow who was living in a collapsing mud thatched hut with her grandchildren. A new home was quickly built for her and this Christmas they were able to visit her again. During their visit, she expressed her elation and new found energy that her new home had enabled.
Please see the video of her narrating how she felt when she was living in the old mud hut and how she is now benefiting from her new home;
New House for Widow in Kenya.mp4
There are plans in 2020 to continue providing housing to widows in similar living situations, as part of recovery efforts for those displaced by the ongoing floods in Kenya.
Teacher Professional Development Programme - Junnar School, India
We are delighted that the teaching staff of the United English School Junnar received a fantastic 3 day Development Programme which took place as the BCT Flagship UES Junnar towards the end of 2019. Since the opening of the school, hundreds of students have benefited from its establishment and the wonderful work of the teachers and staff. The training programme allowed teachers to enhance vital teaching and communication skills, in order to continue impacting the many little lives that receive the excellent education they deliver.
ECD Classrooms
Our partners visited the BCT sponsored ECD School in Benzaro. A 20 km motorcycle ride across flood ridden areas was their only way to reach the school during this time due to the floods which had also caused a temporary stop in construction. The extensive floods have caused major disruption in certain areas of Kenya which unfortunately include Roka Village where 2 more classrooms were due to be built. Construction has been put on hold until the rain ceased. Work at Chakama School to build 2 new classrooms has begun. We have previously also funded the construction of a block of 12 toilets as well as providing vital educational supplies here.
Wear It Pink
As per every year, we celebrated Wear It Pink raising funds for Breast Cancer Awareness Day. A fun filled day which was full of pink clothes, cakes and even wigs! A total of £390.00 was raised by staff of both Beta and Neon toward aiding cancer research.
Winter Appeal in support of Barnardos & Farleigh Hospice
This Christmas, the employees of Beta and Neon came together to support Barnardo's in their appeal for Christmas Toys for vulnerable boys and girls aged 0-19 years. The two lovely ladies from Barnardo’s Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service joined us at Beta on 17th December 2019 to hand over the presents that had been collected. A huge shout out and thank you to everyone at Beta & Neon who donated gifts towards this year's 'BCT Winter Appeal' in supporting the wonderful work Barnardo’s are doing to ensure that vulnerable families also get a chance at celebrating Christmas properly.
An additional £2,500 was donated by BCT to Farleigh Hospice in support of the wonderful work they do and the support they have provided for many friends and colleagues.We hope to continue our support into 2020 with local projects so keep your eyes peeled! For more information, check out their website;
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/
https://www.farleighhospice.org/