What we do.................In short we raise money and send it to Rwanda. Our main source of income
is our Charity Shop - at 3, Syke St. Preston - staffed and run entirely by volunteers. It receives
items given by the public at large and turns them into cash. It
performs the triple role of raising money for the poor in Rwanda,
recycling and/or selling unwanted items, and providing useful
items cheaply to immigrants and others in a somewhat deprived part of
Preston.
We also hold concerts, auctions and other money-raising events and
sell items on eBay or through the local press and the like. The Charity
regularly has selected items for sale on eBay - to see if there are
any current listings please click on the link below; the eBay site
will open a new browser page and this will show any items on sale.
An increasingly important part of our income is made up of donations,
one-off or monthly, and usually ‘Gift Aided’. This is easily the
quickest and most cost-effective way of getting help from this country
to the poor in Rwanda.
Please click
for more information.
How we operate:
The whole organisation is by run by unpaid volunteers, both in this
country and in Rwanda. We have eight Trustees, about 30 shop helpers
and many others who open and close the shop, do maintenance and collect
and deliver goods etc. None of them is paid a penny, not even parking
charges or bus fares. Indeed, our only overheads are the expenses of
running the shop – electricity, water, rent etc. which last year (2007)
amounted to just over £6,500. We are very grateful to our helpers for
their free and uncomplaining service because it is mainly this which
enables us to operate so economically and efficiently.In Rwanda also, all the work is done by unpaid volunteers. Over the
course of many years, by correspondence and annual two-way visits, we have
acquired a good number of trusted and valued Rwandan friends. These are
both men and women, lay and religious, organised in four committees in
Kigali, the capital, and in the regional centres of Gikongoro, Cyangugu
and Nyundo. These committees seek out the poorest of the poor in their
areas and distribute our funds according to each person’s or family’s
needs. This we think is the best way of matching aid to needs, since it
is only Rwandans who can really know their fellow citizens’ actual
situation. They then send us back reports on how they have used the
money, with receipts from individuals and families. Any larger projects,
such as the building of a piggery, classrooms, houses etc, are first
vetted by the committees and then sent to us for our approval and direct
funding from here. When our Trustees visit Rwanda, they see these larger
projects as well as individuals and committees.
The Trustees pay their own air fares for these visits to Rwanda, as well
as the costs of transport and lodging within the country. This is so as
not to be a burden on people who are poorer than we are.
The minutes (and therefore decisions) of our RGT meetings in Preston
are sent immediately to all our committees in Rwanda, and they send
theirs to us. They also send us progress reports, and usually photos, of
any on-going projects: also lists of people and sums of money spent, and
receipts from individuals who have benefited from our aid.
When our
Trustees visit Rwanda, they see projects under way or completed, and
attend meetings of the three committees. When Rwandans come here, they
attend our meetings and take part in all our activities as equal
partners. These visits play a vital role in keeping the personal element
in what could otherwise be nothing more than a financial, or perhaps
even patronising, relationship.
