Week 29 - Christian Aid

Merry Christmas!  This week I am donating to Christian Aid.  They work globally with people of all faiths and none, primarily to eradicate poverty.  As well as dealing with the effects of poverty they challenge the causes, working on such issues as HIV awareness, equality and human rights.  They also contribute help in global emergencies; famine, natural disasters and refugee crises.

Christian Aid are also involved in various campaigns.  In particular they are focused on climate justice, calling on world leaders to cut carbon emissions; and tax justice, campaigning for the UK government to do more to collect the appropriate taxes from international companies and close tax loopholes which affect developing nations.

Link
Christian Aid

Week 28 - Alzheimer's Society

This weekend the footballing world lost a legend of the game to Alzheimer's.  Few people have changed any sport as much as he did football - like generations of football fans I grew up with his punditry and he provided much of my early education into the game.  This week's donation is to Alzheimer's Society and is also inspired by my Nana who has suffered from the disease for many years now.

There are many different types of dementia, caused by damage to the brain.  This can be due to many different reasons but is most commonly caused by Alzheimer's disease.  The symptoms most associated with Alzheimer's and dementia are memory loss and lapses but most sufferers also struggle with communication, reasoning, orientation and perception (such as visuospatial awareness).  As the disease progresses more distressing symptoms present themselves such as behavioural changes, aggression and hallucinations.  In the final stages a sufferer will become increasingly frail and will need help with simple daily tasks.

One in six people over 80 have dementia.  There is no cure but there are treatments which can slow the progress of the disease.  The Alzheimer's Society funds research into the causes, care, cure and prevention of dementia.  They are provide information and support to sufferers and their families and campaign to improve care across our health services.

Link

The Alzheimer's Society

Week 27 - Animal SOS Sri Lanka

This week's charity was nominated by Fiona Campbell - her daughter has worked for them and she has also adopted from there herself.  The UK-based charity is Animal SOS Sri Lanka who nurse and rehome street animals and strays in Sri Lanka.  They also have an approach to the bigger picture, neutering and spaying strays to reduce the population of homeless animals and working with local authorities to vaccinate animals against rabies and testing for other tropical diseases.  Although they cannot provide kennelling facilities for every stray animal they do provide homes for disabled animals who would not survive on the streets.  Education is another part of their work, campaigning to improve treatment of animals by the general public of Sri Lanka.

It's inspiring to see someone from the UK doing so much to help animals in need in another country where conditions and the culture must be much harder to work with.

Link

Animal SOS Sri Lanka

Week 26 - Mercury Phoenix Trust

1st December was World AIDS day so I wanted to choose a charity that supports work in this field.  I've chosen the Mercury Phoenix Trust, partly because I'm a huge Queen fan and partly because they support many different projects.

The Mercury Phoenix Trust was set up by Brian May, Roger Taylor and Jim Beach following Freddie Mercury's untimely death from AIDS in 1991.  They have given over $15 million to over 700 projects around the world in the last 21 years.  Although they do support large and well-known NGOs and charities the majority of the money they raise goes to small-scale initiatives and they particularly support educational and awareness projects.

Links
The Mercury Phoenix Trust
JustGiving Page