Click HERE to see current list of sponsors and the amounts.
A BIG THANK YOU to those who donated to my Bungee Jump / Sky Dive / Leeds Half Marathon in aid of Unicef. Today I donated all the money I have collected thus far to UNICEF, a not-too-shabby £88! Those of you who have forgotten to cough up - THERE IS STILL TIME! I will be emailing you with a link to this page soon ;)
Here is a copy of the letter I recieved from Unicef - dedicated to all who sponsored me - THANKS...
MR R P DARCY
4 Drummond Road
West Yorkshire
LS16 5LB
United Kingdom
UNICEF UK
Africa House
64-78 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6NB
Tel: 01245 476 315
[email protected]
19 June 2004
Dear MR R P DARCY
Your donation of £88.0 supporting UNICEF's work has been gratefully received.
With your kind gift we will be able to bring direct help to millions of children and their families in some of the poorest countries throughout the world. UNICEF uses low cost measures to provide improved health, nutrition, water, sanitation and education programmes. Additionally UNICEF helps children in need of special protection, like the victims of child labour, landmines and those exposed to the ravages of war.
UNICEF is the world's leading children's development organisation, working in over 160 countries. Wherever children lack the basic necessities of life, UNICEF reaches out to help them. It may surprise you to hear UNICEF receives no statutory funding from the United Nations or governments, and so our work is entirely dependent on the generosity of valued supporters like yourself.
On behalf of everyone at UNICEF and all those who will benefit from your gift, thank you.
Your support is really appreciated.
Yours sincerely
David Bull
Executive Director
UNICEF UK Africa House 64-78 Kingsway London WC2B 6NB Tel 020 7405 5592 Fax 020 7405 2332
www.unicef.org.uk Registered Charity No:1072612
A few weeks ago I decided to ask anyone who reads or visits my website to sponsor me by email to do my Bungee Jump and Sky Dive in aid of UNICEF. This is just a few lines to tell you why I think you should.
A while ago, whilst I was in Australia, I saw an advert on a bus shelter which I found a little upsetting. It was a statistic about sexual child abuse and it informed me about the work that Unicef was doing to help those affected by it and also the work they were doing to prevent it.
For some reason I hadn't ever thought too much about Unicef at that point as an organisation, although I had heard about them, I didn't even know what the name Unicef stood for (it stands for the United Nations Childrens Fund). However, this knowledge that they were working in the area of Child Protection on a Global scale made me think about the value of the Organisation.
With this in mind I then heard in passing an item on the news about the war in Iraq and the work that Unicef was doing there with aid to help the kids affected. Effectively, in my opinion, these are the real vicitims of Mr Bush and Mr Hussaine's falling out.
Take a minute to read this extract from the Unicef website;
"The big picture
The children of Iraq are caught up in war for the third time in 20 years. UNICEF is deeply concerned by the further deteriorating conditions brought on by this war and their impact on children of Iraq. Almost half of the population is under the age of 18. Even before the most recent conflict began, many children were highly vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. One in four children under five years of age is chronically malnourished. One in eight children die before their fifth birthday.
The recent war and its effect on children have to be seen in the broader context of Iraq's situation, which is unique in many ways. An eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s and the Gulf War in 1991 greatly damaged Iraq's infrastructure. The country has been under comprehensive United Nations sanctions for 12 years since the Gulf War.
To reduce the humanitarian impact of the sanctions, the Oil for Food Programme (OFFP) was introduced in 1996, which allowed the Iraqi government to sell oil and use the revenue to purchase humanitarian supplies. The programme helped arrest further deterioration in the humanitarian situation but did not greatly improve conditions for most Iraqis, because of revenue shortfalls and structural problems inherent in the programme. Thus, the basic services infrastructure of Iraq on the eve of this war remained in a deplorable state.
In the months leading up to the war in mid-March 2003, UNICEF pre-positioned over $14 million in emergency supplies and equipment in and around Iraq, and established logistics hubs along the border with neighbouring countries, which allowed for quick trans-border deliveries of relief supplies into Iraq once the war broke out."
One in eight children die before they are five. In Afghanistan the figure is even worse, at just over a quater of children dying before they are five (taken from information found HERE).
So - why should you sponsor me? Well, as those of you who've read any of my website are aware, I've had it pretty good for the last 14 months. This has been during a period in the world where there has been much instability in the Middle East. Whatever your standpoint on what we in the West have been involved within this region since September 11th and before, whether we have been right or wrong to get involved, what nobody can deny is that there have been a lot of innocent victims.
Of these, through their inability to have a voice, the biggest vicitims of all I'd say have been kids. How can these children understand how their lives are so off-balance and different compared to other kids all over the rest of the world as a result of 'Weapons Of Mass Destruction', or 'The War On Terrorism'. They can't because they have to get on with the life they and their parents have. When you look at the statistics mentioned above and (in more detail on the Unicef website) you can bet the life they are busy living is not going to be a very good one, and that to me is pretty sad world to live in, whichever way you look at the situation.
Helping kids in War affected regions through aid and in other more hands on, face to face ways as well as those who suffer from Sexual Child Abuse are not the only areas which Unicef aims to help children. They try to look after the basic rights of Kids as human beings on many levels throughout the world. You don't have to be a genius to work out that this is a pretty worthwhile cause, and one which in my opinion its pretty difficult to say 'my money won't make a difference to'. So, if you've got the guts to send me an email and sponsor me a fiver, I reckon I've got the guts to jump out of a plane at 12,000ft. What do you say?
...Thus far I have been sponsored ten quid, by two people, as well as five quid I'm donating to Unicef of my own (small) funds. If I can make it One Hundered Quid I'll be happy a happy bunny. I'll post a seperate update on this section of the site of all the people who sponsored me, collecting the money from you all on my return to the UK in May, and will then scan in a reciept from Unicef when I get it showing that I have sent them the money and put it online. Once this has been on the site for a while (about a month), I will then close down the RobDY2K website and the World Tour will be officially over. Thanks in advance for any pledges,
Rob
Click HERE to see current list of sponsors and the amounts.