As part of the Orphans in Need Junior Enterprise Project, I participated in a walk from “Westfield Stratford” to “Westfield Shepherd’s Bush” along with Evelyn, Imaan (part of the Project Team), our teacher and her friend.
The Orphans in Need Junior Enterprise Project is a project given to school groups around the country where we are given £100 and are asked to make £1000 by selling, hosting events and fundraising. As well as selling specialist American sweets and organising bake sales we thought that it would be rewarding to do a sponsored walk to help raise money to reach our own personal target of £2000.
The idea behind our walk was to put ourselves in the shoes of hundreds of orphans around the world who have to walk miles every day just for basic necessities such as food and water. Whilst we had the luxury of walking with comfortable shoes, warm clothes and having snacks and pauses whenever we wanted, many orphans cannot afford these perks – for them this is a matter of life or death, literally. Therefore, whilst we did put ourselves in the places of the orphans, there is no way we could ever know the exact struggles that they face daily.
Evelyn said, ‘At the start of the journey Imaan, Alaynah and I were filled with energy and excitement, completely unaware of the distance we had to travel and whilst the walk was extremely tiring, it gave me time to think deeply about the orphans that my friends and I were helping and the large amount of supporters we had, whom we couldn’t let down. This was definitely the furthest I’ve walked and I’ll most certainly do it again. It was an experience I will never forget!’
Despite the strong wind and the cold we were lucky that the weather was on our side with a few sunny periods and no rain. Thankfully, we had a thoroughly enjoyable walk through the main areas of London including Oxford Street which had a wonderful Christmas buzz about it. This helped distract from how physically tired we actually were but certainly uplifted us mentally.
Imaan said, ‘I think the walk went very well, none of us complained too much and the atmosphere between us was very positive. We played small games to keep ourselves entertained and honestly it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be!’
Due to the walk and other small projects and donations we have managed to raise £1,850 – 92% of our goal and with two months left we should exceed our target. Mock exam fatigue hampered our fundraising efforts slightly but the New Year should give us that additional impetus to help us cross the line. We would like to thank all those who have supported us throughout. We knew charity work was rewarding but this has surpassed our expectations.
If you would like to donate please do so on https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/PEACE-Project
Alaynah Nawaz, Ursuline Academy Ilford
