The concert last night was a great success! The performers were wonderful! We had Rosemary, Kirsten, the Peregrine recorder Orchestra, Time After Time-barbershop quartet, Kayleigh-anne Robert Fisher and Ed Beard (piano trio), Tash, tony and me. I had to do all the announcing because we could get nobody famous to do it!
About 40 people came, and we raised £283! I think they all enjoyed it, I know I did!
The days before the concert were fraught with dramas great and small, from running out of ink to almost over lapping an event at the church. But we got there! Thanks to all the performers, Christina for playing, the people who delivered leaflets, mum and Jenny for printing programs and leaflets, and everyone else who helped!
Next? . . . . . . . the bike ride! Aaaaaaa!
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Fundraising Fundraising, Fundraising!
Just a quick update!
· I have received a cheque for £100 which is fantastic!
· Plans for the concert on 21st May continue, I now have 3 confirmed acts: Rosemary, Kirsten, and the Peregrine Recorder Orchestra. So things are looking up there!
· I have been asked to arrange another ‘awareness’ evening. So that will happen at the end of May or the end of June.
· There are around 14 of us doing a sponsored bike ride on 11th June, 16 miles!!! (I am not the fittest person in the world, so this might well kill me! Or at least my legs will drop off! Lol) me and mum will be riding tandem.
So it’s a busy, busy time, but God is good, and things will work out for his purpose.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Monday, 25 April 2011
so here I go again!
Hello!!!
This is Philippa. I am 22 and have been totally blind since birth. I am a Christian, have been from a very young age! I have been to Guatemala twice before, in July 2009 and in July 2010. Last year my best friend Christina came with me, as you know from reading this Blog.
Well, it’s just me this year, well, a team from Through The Roof and me, but Christina can’t come :-(
So we are off again on 21st July! I wanted to keep you up to date on my fundraising stories and of course up to date on what we plan to do on the trip, and what happened! (But obviously that one will have to wait till I come back!)
So far, I’ve been trying to organise another concert. Christina has offered to come back from Oxford (where she is at Uni) to play the piano for us! Which is fantastic and wonderful of her! Also Rosemary from the Amici singers (the choir I go to!) is singing, and hopefully a lot more (although as yet a lot of people are “maybe” or “probably” which is giving me nightmares!)
This year the individual fundraising target is £1000. Whatever we can raise above that will go into the team funds so that no-one his short of money and can’t go! So far I have £100 which is fantastic! However, I feel like God has given me a different challenge this year, as one of my biggest church sponsors is not in a position to help me this time. I am also now working for Through the Roof in the part-time role as their Disabled Youth Ambassador. My job is to promote the charities work and encourage people to get involved, as well as giving my own experience of disability and testimony as a Christian. So I now need to keep my Guatemala fundraising separate from my work fundraising for TTR itself! Confusing?tell me about it!! So now I NEED! To get the concert underway, and all before I go to Budapest for the European disability conference from 9th to 13th May. The concert is on 21st May, so things are pretty tight!
However, moaning aside (honest!) I have booked to go and speak at Yelling church on Sunday 5th June. This is a good start! So is the £100 I have so far! God is good, and there is no situation too hard for him!
“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27 (NLT)
I intend to keep you up dated, so do keep checking! And If you want to read my blog for Through The Roof, then its
www.promotingdisability.blogspot.com
My just giving page for Guatemala this year is
www.justgiving.com/philippa-woodcraft2011
Bye for now!!
This is Philippa. I am 22 and have been totally blind since birth. I am a Christian, have been from a very young age! I have been to Guatemala twice before, in July 2009 and in July 2010. Last year my best friend Christina came with me, as you know from reading this Blog.
Well, it’s just me this year, well, a team from Through The Roof and me, but Christina can’t come :-(
So we are off again on 21st July! I wanted to keep you up to date on my fundraising stories and of course up to date on what we plan to do on the trip, and what happened! (But obviously that one will have to wait till I come back!)
So far, I’ve been trying to organise another concert. Christina has offered to come back from Oxford (where she is at Uni) to play the piano for us! Which is fantastic and wonderful of her! Also Rosemary from the Amici singers (the choir I go to!) is singing, and hopefully a lot more (although as yet a lot of people are “maybe” or “probably” which is giving me nightmares!)
This year the individual fundraising target is £1000. Whatever we can raise above that will go into the team funds so that no-one his short of money and can’t go! So far I have £100 which is fantastic! However, I feel like God has given me a different challenge this year, as one of my biggest church sponsors is not in a position to help me this time. I am also now working for Through the Roof in the part-time role as their Disabled Youth Ambassador. My job is to promote the charities work and encourage people to get involved, as well as giving my own experience of disability and testimony as a Christian. So I now need to keep my Guatemala fundraising separate from my work fundraising for TTR itself! Confusing?tell me about it!! So now I NEED! To get the concert underway, and all before I go to Budapest for the European disability conference from 9th to 13th May. The concert is on 21st May, so things are pretty tight!
However, moaning aside (honest!) I have booked to go and speak at Yelling church on Sunday 5th June. This is a good start! So is the £100 I have so far! God is good, and there is no situation too hard for him!
“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27 (NLT)
I intend to keep you up dated, so do keep checking! And If you want to read my blog for Through The Roof, then its
www.promotingdisability.blogspot.com
My just giving page for Guatemala this year is
www.justgiving.com/philippa-woodcraft2011
Bye for now!!
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Guatemala Trip!!! Been, Done, and come back!
We arrived in Guatemala City on the 29th July after what felt like endless traveling. We could hardly believe it was still the same day, but of course, with the time difference, it was!
We were glad when we reached Antigua and our hotel!
The first day (30th) was spent unwinding from the long journey. We had an opportunity to visit the market, and do some shopping. In a team of 5 girls this was undoubtedly a good opportunity!
In the afternoon we paid a short visit to the disabled hospital, Hermano Pedro. This is the "best" facility that the Guatemalan’s have. people say if their children are born with any disability, "never mind, send them to Hermano Pedro." we didn't have time to do much more than look on that day, but we returned later on in the trip.
The following day (31st) July, we were taken to meet Thelma, who has a ministry for adults with learning disabilities. A local pastor called Meffy was teaching 5 of these men to run and compete in a race with everyone else. We had a wonderful time sitting with the parents of these men and getting to know Thelma, Meffy and his family.
The Sunday morning 1st august saw us sitting in Thelma's church for half of the service, until we had been introduced. Thelma was keen for us to be there because she would like to organize a workshop for her church in the future. Then we took a quick exit and scooted off to Meffy's church where we did a workshop on how to include people with disabilities in their church and community.
We started by introducing the team members. Hannah is a youth worker in her church which has a lot to do with people with disabilities, and is also a sports coach. Marie and her Daughter Lindsey are Occupational Therapists. Christina and Philippa have been best friends since Christina was Born 18 years ago. She will be going to Oxford Brookes University this year to study music. Philippa is 21 years old and have been blind since birth. Christina gave the greatest example of how inclusion can just become a way of life, because she has naturally always included Philippa in everything. Philippa gave her testimony and experience of growing up as a blind Christian in a sighted world. We also did some parachute activities with the group, including showing how a bible story could be taught using it.
The people at Meffy's church said they enjoyed the workshop very much and that it gave them useful and practical ideas to use when we left.
For the next 3 days, 2nd 3rd and 4th august, we were at New Life School, half way up a volcano in a little village called Santa Maria de Jesus. This was a school Marie and Philippa had visited on the trip last year. There are 80 students there, all with learning or physical disabilities of varying degrees. It is run by Judy and Amy. They demonstrate God's love in an amazing way, not only running the school, but doing great work in the community as well.
We were able to spend time with the teachers, Marie Hannah and Lindsey giving them practical tips about how to help some of the students who had more unusual behavioral problems to cope with. We also spent time with some of the children. Last year the parents of a blind girl with Cerebral Palsy had come to our workshop for the parents at New Life. After meeting them last year Philippa was delighted to find that the young girl Yamalin, had started in the kindergarten class. It was a joy to spend time with her and get to know her.
During our time there, a mother with a baby who had hydrocephalus came to the school. She bought the baby to Amy and Judy because she was very ill. The shunt, which had been put in soon after her birth, had not worked. This meant that her head was 56cm round, but her face and body were tiny even though she was 6 months old. It was the mother's first child, and her husband had abandoned her when the child was born. The baby was suffering now and was too weak to move much. Mum asked us to pray that the Lord would take her home so that she wouldn't suffer anymore. It was one of the hardest and happiest moments in our lives. It was so sad, and yet a privilege to be there and a joy to know that the God, who had bought this mother to that decision, had given us all a certain hope of life after death. The words of the hymn Blessed Assurance were so appropriate for that occasion that we stood by the door and sang them, before leaving to give mum and baby some time alone. None of us expected the child would survive the night, but the last we heard before we left Guatemala was that she was improving slightly.
Judy took us to 2 schools while we were with her. One was a Christian school. They started off with the wrong attitude, saying that their building didn't allow them to accept disabled students since it was inaccessible. However after we explained and demonstrated that it wasn't necessarily the building that was the main stumbling block, but peoples attitudes, and showed them that change is not always needed, sometimes adaptation is enough, we saw a definite change of heart. At the end of our session, the head master sat down and gave them a long talk about changing their attitude in that school. He said that in future they would accept disabled students.
The next school was a bit more challenging. Since Through the Roof is a Christian charity, we give the biblical basis of disability everywhere we go. Teamed up with parachute bible stories, action songs, and Philippa's testimony, it is a very Christian based program. However, at this school, we were asked not to talk about religion any more after giving the biblical basis. A bit of a hard task since Philippa still had to give her testimony. Philippa said, "I can't even give my experience of being a blind person without mentioning God. He is my life, and therefore I can't separate him from It." so after a prayer with the team, she stood up and said that, and said that she made no apologies for mentioning God.
The next day we were with Steve from Love the Child in San Lukas. He took us back to Hermano Pedro, this time to spend some time with the young adult men. We did parachute activities with them, and just spent time with them. Steve asked Philippa to sing to them, and after a few seconds wondering what she could sing off by heart, she sang Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God. This proved to have been God's choice, since hallelujah is the same in English and in Spanish, and the boys were able to join in.
In the afternoon we enjoyed visiting the children at the orphanage. Some children, who had been there last year, were still there. Including Hannah, a 13 year old girl with Brittle bone syndrome, who is very small, but talks fluently in English and Spanish. It was very special to see her again, and to spend time with the children. The baby who Philippa held last year called Diego had been reunited with his family, after a year of being seperated from them by an illegal adoption, which was wonderful to learn.
Friday 6th august was our most hectic day. We were taken to America Latina School for training teachers, and did 3 2-hour workshops with 30 students at a time. This was exhausting, but rewarding as we could see some of the students really taking on board what we were saying.
Our last 2 days in Guatemala were spent with Steve. This time we went to 2 churches on the Saturday, one in a squatter’s village, which was in a garage. It is always amazing to see how in the most unexpected places God will bring together his people to worship him and help each other. The second church was more traditional. We had a group of about 18 young people, and again they said that they found our ideas useful.
Sunday was spent at the church with the deaf ministry, which we went to last year. It was nice to see a couple who Marie and Philippa remembered from last time and learn how they were getting on. There were a lot of people at the workshop, and we received good feedback. We were able to stay for the service too. In the evening we were taken on a spontaneous visit to an English speaking church. We were all ready to sit back and listen to the service and relax, when Philippa was asked to give her testimony and both she and Christina were asked to sing. We sang the lord's my shepherd. Nothing could have been better to end our trip on than the lovely service we enjoyed there.
It is such a wonderful and humbling privilege to do God's work, and we hope to revisit Guatemala in the future to see his ongoing works with the amazing people in that country.
We were glad when we reached Antigua and our hotel!
The first day (30th) was spent unwinding from the long journey. We had an opportunity to visit the market, and do some shopping. In a team of 5 girls this was undoubtedly a good opportunity!
In the afternoon we paid a short visit to the disabled hospital, Hermano Pedro. This is the "best" facility that the Guatemalan’s have. people say if their children are born with any disability, "never mind, send them to Hermano Pedro." we didn't have time to do much more than look on that day, but we returned later on in the trip.
The following day (31st) July, we were taken to meet Thelma, who has a ministry for adults with learning disabilities. A local pastor called Meffy was teaching 5 of these men to run and compete in a race with everyone else. We had a wonderful time sitting with the parents of these men and getting to know Thelma, Meffy and his family.
The Sunday morning 1st august saw us sitting in Thelma's church for half of the service, until we had been introduced. Thelma was keen for us to be there because she would like to organize a workshop for her church in the future. Then we took a quick exit and scooted off to Meffy's church where we did a workshop on how to include people with disabilities in their church and community.
We started by introducing the team members. Hannah is a youth worker in her church which has a lot to do with people with disabilities, and is also a sports coach. Marie and her Daughter Lindsey are Occupational Therapists. Christina and Philippa have been best friends since Christina was Born 18 years ago. She will be going to Oxford Brookes University this year to study music. Philippa is 21 years old and have been blind since birth. Christina gave the greatest example of how inclusion can just become a way of life, because she has naturally always included Philippa in everything. Philippa gave her testimony and experience of growing up as a blind Christian in a sighted world. We also did some parachute activities with the group, including showing how a bible story could be taught using it.
The people at Meffy's church said they enjoyed the workshop very much and that it gave them useful and practical ideas to use when we left.
For the next 3 days, 2nd 3rd and 4th august, we were at New Life School, half way up a volcano in a little village called Santa Maria de Jesus. This was a school Marie and Philippa had visited on the trip last year. There are 80 students there, all with learning or physical disabilities of varying degrees. It is run by Judy and Amy. They demonstrate God's love in an amazing way, not only running the school, but doing great work in the community as well.
We were able to spend time with the teachers, Marie Hannah and Lindsey giving them practical tips about how to help some of the students who had more unusual behavioral problems to cope with. We also spent time with some of the children. Last year the parents of a blind girl with Cerebral Palsy had come to our workshop for the parents at New Life. After meeting them last year Philippa was delighted to find that the young girl Yamalin, had started in the kindergarten class. It was a joy to spend time with her and get to know her.
During our time there, a mother with a baby who had hydrocephalus came to the school. She bought the baby to Amy and Judy because she was very ill. The shunt, which had been put in soon after her birth, had not worked. This meant that her head was 56cm round, but her face and body were tiny even though she was 6 months old. It was the mother's first child, and her husband had abandoned her when the child was born. The baby was suffering now and was too weak to move much. Mum asked us to pray that the Lord would take her home so that she wouldn't suffer anymore. It was one of the hardest and happiest moments in our lives. It was so sad, and yet a privilege to be there and a joy to know that the God, who had bought this mother to that decision, had given us all a certain hope of life after death. The words of the hymn Blessed Assurance were so appropriate for that occasion that we stood by the door and sang them, before leaving to give mum and baby some time alone. None of us expected the child would survive the night, but the last we heard before we left Guatemala was that she was improving slightly.
Judy took us to 2 schools while we were with her. One was a Christian school. They started off with the wrong attitude, saying that their building didn't allow them to accept disabled students since it was inaccessible. However after we explained and demonstrated that it wasn't necessarily the building that was the main stumbling block, but peoples attitudes, and showed them that change is not always needed, sometimes adaptation is enough, we saw a definite change of heart. At the end of our session, the head master sat down and gave them a long talk about changing their attitude in that school. He said that in future they would accept disabled students.
The next school was a bit more challenging. Since Through the Roof is a Christian charity, we give the biblical basis of disability everywhere we go. Teamed up with parachute bible stories, action songs, and Philippa's testimony, it is a very Christian based program. However, at this school, we were asked not to talk about religion any more after giving the biblical basis. A bit of a hard task since Philippa still had to give her testimony. Philippa said, "I can't even give my experience of being a blind person without mentioning God. He is my life, and therefore I can't separate him from It." so after a prayer with the team, she stood up and said that, and said that she made no apologies for mentioning God.
The next day we were with Steve from Love the Child in San Lukas. He took us back to Hermano Pedro, this time to spend some time with the young adult men. We did parachute activities with them, and just spent time with them. Steve asked Philippa to sing to them, and after a few seconds wondering what she could sing off by heart, she sang Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God. This proved to have been God's choice, since hallelujah is the same in English and in Spanish, and the boys were able to join in.
In the afternoon we enjoyed visiting the children at the orphanage. Some children, who had been there last year, were still there. Including Hannah, a 13 year old girl with Brittle bone syndrome, who is very small, but talks fluently in English and Spanish. It was very special to see her again, and to spend time with the children. The baby who Philippa held last year called Diego had been reunited with his family, after a year of being seperated from them by an illegal adoption, which was wonderful to learn.
Friday 6th august was our most hectic day. We were taken to America Latina School for training teachers, and did 3 2-hour workshops with 30 students at a time. This was exhausting, but rewarding as we could see some of the students really taking on board what we were saying.
Our last 2 days in Guatemala were spent with Steve. This time we went to 2 churches on the Saturday, one in a squatter’s village, which was in a garage. It is always amazing to see how in the most unexpected places God will bring together his people to worship him and help each other. The second church was more traditional. We had a group of about 18 young people, and again they said that they found our ideas useful.
Sunday was spent at the church with the deaf ministry, which we went to last year. It was nice to see a couple who Marie and Philippa remembered from last time and learn how they were getting on. There were a lot of people at the workshop, and we received good feedback. We were able to stay for the service too. In the evening we were taken on a spontaneous visit to an English speaking church. We were all ready to sit back and listen to the service and relax, when Philippa was asked to give her testimony and both she and Christina were asked to sing. We sang the lord's my shepherd. Nothing could have been better to end our trip on than the lovely service we enjoyed there.
It is such a wonderful and humbling privilege to do God's work, and we hope to revisit Guatemala in the future to see his ongoing works with the amazing people in that country.
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
£££
My mum had a most lovely phone call from Dunton Lower School the other day.
They wanted to donate some money which is so lovely! Especially from a wonderful little village school. Apparently the children couldn't stop talking about it! :)
Also, on Monday this week, I attended the fiddle fiesta which is a string orchestra held once a year to support all string players in the county from years 3-11. It was lovely to be there and to help out! The reason I write this is because I had lots of young children from Gamlingay and Dunton schools coming to say hello and taking honest interest in how we were getting on. They really enjoyed hearing from us - such encouraging news.
I'm currently writing thank you letters to all the wonderful people who have given so much in time, effort, money and prayers to support us.
Christina x
They wanted to donate some money which is so lovely! Especially from a wonderful little village school. Apparently the children couldn't stop talking about it! :)
Also, on Monday this week, I attended the fiddle fiesta which is a string orchestra held once a year to support all string players in the county from years 3-11. It was lovely to be there and to help out! The reason I write this is because I had lots of young children from Gamlingay and Dunton schools coming to say hello and taking honest interest in how we were getting on. They really enjoyed hearing from us - such encouraging news.
I'm currently writing thank you letters to all the wonderful people who have given so much in time, effort, money and prayers to support us.
Christina x
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Rightio ...2 weeks to go!
Rightio...2 weeks to go. Wow. Where did all the time go!
I can't believe in just over 2 weeks we will be on a plane to the other side of the world with people who've only met as a group once!
It's been such a fantastic experience so far and we're not even there yet! I've been continuously receiving cheques in the post- even from people I've never heard of!
My youngest sister asked to do a 'guess how many sweets in the jar' stall at school through which she managed to raise just under £20! That's brilliant!
I cannot express in enough words how grateful we are to everyone who has supported us in prayer! (as well as financially!)
My mum and my grandma have been absolute diamonds! So have Philippa's parents! They've worked along side us and as often as they can they have pushed for opportunities for us to be able to speak at different places.
We certainly couldn't have done it without them.
And another big thank you to everyone who has donated..! It's been an absolute delight to know all the support that we have!
It's getting late! So I will be off for now.
goodnight!
Christina x
I can't believe in just over 2 weeks we will be on a plane to the other side of the world with people who've only met as a group once!
It's been such a fantastic experience so far and we're not even there yet! I've been continuously receiving cheques in the post- even from people I've never heard of!
My youngest sister asked to do a 'guess how many sweets in the jar' stall at school through which she managed to raise just under £20! That's brilliant!
I cannot express in enough words how grateful we are to everyone who has supported us in prayer! (as well as financially!)
My mum and my grandma have been absolute diamonds! So have Philippa's parents! They've worked along side us and as often as they can they have pushed for opportunities for us to be able to speak at different places.
We certainly couldn't have done it without them.
And another big thank you to everyone who has donated..! It's been an absolute delight to know all the support that we have!
It's getting late! So I will be off for now.
goodnight!
Christina x
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Kempston, Dunton, and Gamlingay
Ok, so last Sunday morning I went to Grace Comunity Church, Kempston, to talk about our trip to Guatemala. Christina had skived off for a weekend with young life, so I had to do it all on my own :-(
...but I can't grumble because she let me go to Thorpe Park on the Friday when I should have been helping her run a cake stall! so . . . where was I? yeah, Kempston.
Well they gave me the children's talk slot, and all the kids came to sit at the front while I was interviewed about our trip. then I sang. they kindly gave us £100 towards our costs, which we are grateful for. I also received a donation of £30 from my sister in law Tash's parents which will be a big help.
On Tuesday morning we both went to Dunton school to take their assembly, after spending the whole day before ordering resources and planning for Dunton and Gamlingay. The children were seemingly enthralled and listened very carefully, and also asked some great questions. We then had a look round at the school, which both Christina and I went to when we were little. They have kindly offered to donate some money.
Gamlingay Baptist was on Thursday evening. we put together a powerpoint for this one, as we had an hour. we were a bit nervous about filling the time, but we did it! We had a wonderful time with the members there, and gratefully collected £75 from the evening. iItwas such a blessing to be with them and we both enjoyed it.
We have nearly done ordering resources, I have sort of started packing or rather gathering together things i'll take in a pile so I know where it all is!
Next event is the Rotary club on 27th July. so till then . . . :-)
...but I can't grumble because she let me go to Thorpe Park on the Friday when I should have been helping her run a cake stall! so . . . where was I? yeah, Kempston.
Well they gave me the children's talk slot, and all the kids came to sit at the front while I was interviewed about our trip. then I sang. they kindly gave us £100 towards our costs, which we are grateful for. I also received a donation of £30 from my sister in law Tash's parents which will be a big help.
On Tuesday morning we both went to Dunton school to take their assembly, after spending the whole day before ordering resources and planning for Dunton and Gamlingay. The children were seemingly enthralled and listened very carefully, and also asked some great questions. We then had a look round at the school, which both Christina and I went to when we were little. They have kindly offered to donate some money.
Gamlingay Baptist was on Thursday evening. we put together a powerpoint for this one, as we had an hour. we were a bit nervous about filling the time, but we did it! We had a wonderful time with the members there, and gratefully collected £75 from the evening. iItwas such a blessing to be with them and we both enjoyed it.
We have nearly done ordering resources, I have sort of started packing or rather gathering together things i'll take in a pile so I know where it all is!
Next event is the Rotary club on 27th July. so till then . . . :-)
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