Donations

We've given £100 to The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. You may know the place - it's truly wonderful. We know it from school trips in childhood, family visits, and later from taking Masters students there to learn about Heritage Management from when Greg worked at Lampeter University. It's the most remarkable collection of buildings, and they desperately need funds to help conserve them. They rely on visitor numbers, which (of course) took a huge hit during the pandemic. We know as building conservators ourselves just how much work goes into protecting old buildings - and they have so many to care for, it must be an almost impossible task. If you've never been then DO GO - it is a fantastic day out and so much to see and do.

December 02, 2022

As you know, Under the Thatch has conservation of historic buildings at its core. Historic buildings in Antarctica are subjected to extreme conditions and they need regular specialist, conservation. Ice, wind and increasing rain batter the wooden walls and windows and make these buildings, which tell the early histories of climate science and discovery, extremely vulnerable. As we're so far away, and they're out of the mind's eye, it's easy to forget these structures, hence we've donated today £100 to the UK Antartic Heritage Trust. Most urgently this year is the need to repaint their Damoy Base, Historic Site and Monument No. 84 under the International Antarctic Treaty (pictured). We wish them well with the project and good work that they do.

November 30, 2022

Via Care International we've given Mrs. Hong of Hai Binh Ward, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, £50 towards the cost of building a toilet for her family. She lives on a low income (a household income of around £289 a month from providing seafood to local restaurants). Her plan is to replace the old and unhygienic latrine to improve her family’s living conditions and their surrounding environment. We wish them well.

November 27, 2022

Maria is 43 years old and has four children ages between 9 and 20 years old, living in Cebu province of the Philippines that we know well. A ll her children are studying in different levels. and we've given her £100 (and covered transfer costs) to assist with school fees. Maria used to work at the village hall until this year she decided to move on by starting her own food stall selling snacks and easy to cook dishes and barbecues. Along with partner Alan she sells snacks like 'buko' juice and fried bananas. We're happy to be able to support her family and wish them well.

November 18, 2022

Happy to support the excellent work of the Wales Air Ambulance with a donation of a hundred pounds. We've seen them in action ourselves lately doing an incredible job help, and apparently without direct government support. Given the complex and mountainous terrain of Wales, we fully understand the need for this vital service, and are proud to support what they do.

November 12, 2022

We regularly donate small amounts to our local food bank, and this week we've donated around £50 of 'treat items' that we felt might go down well, including a big box of mini bags of veggie Haribos for kids (it is Halloween, after all!). Being vegetarian ourselves we always ensure that everything donated is vegetarian, and most is also vegan, and we try and make a special effort in any food bank donations to try and include items that we don't often see in the usual collection points - so a few specialist sauces, luxury snacks and other treats.

October 27, 2022

Happy to support Vanna in Battambang province of Cambodia (that we know and visit) with help for her small rice farm today. Vanna is a 36 year old married woman with two children, aged 15 and 11, both of whom attend the local school. The family live in the Sangke District of Battambang Province where she and her husband farm dry season rice each year for sale to provide the income for the family. They have their own paddy field on which they grow short term rice which is three hectares in size and from which they get a harvest of four tons of rice per hectare. The crops are then sold to a local middle man who buys direct from their farm. In order to expand their farming activity, they also rent a further four hectares of paddy field land from another villager at a cost of $200 (£174.91) per hectare. We're helping her with seed, ploughing and other general agricultural costs to aid her harvest. We wish her and her family well.

September 28, 2022

We've donated £200 to assist the Disasters and Emergencies Appeal for assistance with the terrible floods in Pakistan. We wish the people well, and the aid workers who are providing essential assistance - a thousand+ lives lost, and 6 million people in need of urgent help.

September 09, 2022

Bertha is 57 years old and married with two children, living in La Esperanza, Peru. She has been working as a beautician/ hairdresser for 18 years, starting a small salon from her living room. She then taught her daughters hairdressing skills and they now also work for their small business that is open 7 days a week from 9am to 7pm. Bertha's main clients are her neighbours, family members and the general public and her average daily sales are s/ 150.00 soles (£32.28) with a profit margin of 20% of her total income. We're assisting her to purchase two new hair cutting machines (replacing broken ones) and to buy an armchair. We wish her well with the business and her dreams to later expand into larger premises in the historic center of Trujillo.

August 26, 2022

Ahlam is married with four children and has recently started her own beauty salon. She lives with her family in the town of Jenin which is in the north of the West Bank. Ahlam has around 10 years of professional experience, having recently set up her own salon having worked for others. She offers hairdressing and hair clouring, make-up and skin care. Via Care International we've helped her buy equipment and supplies for her new business and to help pay the annual rent. She expects the next few months to be very busy because it is wedding season. Once the business is properly running Ahlam hopes to take on an assistant. We wish her well with the enterprise.

August 15, 2022

Tourism can have a beneficial environmental impact, and it can also have a detrimental one. We've been happy to support the Eco Koh Tao project (run by Black Turtle Divers) in Thailand this summer, which works to restore and improve the amazing coral reefs around Koh Tao in Thailand. We've been regular divers on these reefs over the last decade and have seen the degradation caused by various things, but including from the impact of tourism. Lukas has been on a Marine Resource Management course, an Ecological Monitoring Programme, Coral Watch, Sea Turtle Ecology, Shark Ecology and Population Conservation, Underwater Naturalist and Dive Against Debris Courses, including weeks of diving on the artificial reef collecting data on the growth and health of the new reef that will hopefully inform ways to maintain and improve the adjacent original roof. This has included hands-on surveys of the biodiversity and assistance with the project to clear rubbish, and nurture coral fragments that have been damaged by boat anchors, fishing etc. We wish them well with the project, and look forwards to revisiting in future years to see how the coral has fared.

August 14, 2022

The Covid pandemic has affected everything, everywhere, including animal sanctuaries across the globe. We're currently investigating the affects of the pandemic on animal care in Thailand (for a degree dissertation) and have been in touch with several of the sanctuaries there that rescue and care for Asian elephants. There is some degree of variation between the best and worst sanctuary (some really are primarily tourism businesses), but we have direct contact with and know Noi at Samui Elephant Home. We've seen her work this year, and know that she genuinely cares for the elephants in her sanctuary. Feeding them during Covid has been challenging (an adult can eat 300lbs of food a day), and we've helped her out with a donation to help grow food on her farm that can be used for the elephants until the tourism businesses are back on their feet. The daily visitors to the sanctuary form an important part of the income for these sanctuaries that protect these wonderful, if endangered creatures.

August 09, 2022

A friend is cycling the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, and we're very happy to help with a £100 donation. We've had a couple of experiences of Macmillan's work this year, as we're sure many of you will as well, and we're utterly impressed by their professional and caring staff. They've been providing support to a good friend with secondary breast cancer in Wales (Cyffin's mum), and also to a relative in Stoke on Trent who required hospice care. It'd be hard to have more respect for this charity and its dedicated workers - they really do care, and they do such a fantastic job.

August 08, 2022

The Covid closures has hit developing countries hard, particularly those with significant tourist economies that saw almost complete economic collapse in some areas. We know A-ki, from Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand. She has temporarily moved down to Koh Samui, a 'tourist island' in the Gulf of Thailand now that tourism is finally reopening. She makes bracelets and necklaces from coconut shell beads and sea shells, as well as some purchased stock (like metal beads) and touts them to tourists on the popular beaches, and sends money back home to her family. We've gifted her 60 GBP to help with buying stock and her general living expenses, and we wish her well. She's the loveliest person.

August 02, 2022

Sitraton is 31 year old Rwandan potato farmer. He is married and lives with his wife and their three beautiful children who attend a local school. Sitraton supports his family's day to day household expenses by growing potatoes with the help of his wife. We've given him £50 to buy potato seed to help their small business, and we wish them well.

July 13, 2022

Ibraheem is from Gaza, he is 19 and lives with his family. Ibraheem runs a stationery store. He sells items needed by school and university students and he even has computers for use. Ibraheem estimates that he earns a monthly profit of around $400 despite working in a very challenging economic environment. Through Care International we're helping him increase stocks to better support himself and his family. We wish him well.

June 27, 2022

Hashem is from Gaza. He is 21 and lives with his parents and siblings. Hashem is a men's barber. He runs a small salon where he offers haircuts, styling, shaves, as well as skin care and colouring. Hashem earns a monthly profit of around $300. The economic situation in Gaza is extremely challenging and there are few sources of employment so this is a good business for Hashem. We've given him £100 (and paid admin) to help buy materials like shampoos and hair dryers. He hopes that this will enable him to work more efficiently and also to offer a better service to his customers. The business is particularly important as it is the main source of income for his family household. We wish him well.

June 24, 2022

Abdullah lives with his parents in Gaza. To help support his family Abdullah runs a grocery shop in his neighbourhood. He has been running the store for the past 3 years, since he was 19. He sells essential household foods, as well as cleaning and personal hygiene items and chocolates and crisps. We're helping him buy in bulk, which will entitle him to a discount. Abdullah is concerned that prices are rising and it might become more expensive if he delays, and we're happy to help. He estimates his monthly profit to be around $450.

June 12, 2022

Celestin is 43 years old and lives with his wife and their six children in the Ngororero District in the Western Province of Rwanda. He and his wife are both potato farmers. We're helping him buy seed potatoes and compost to support his family business. Hopefully he'll achieve a harvest of around several tonnes of potatoes, earning enough to continue to pay his children's school fees as well as cover the family food, shelter, education, clothes and health care. We wish him well.

May 21, 2022

Elsa Doraly is 24 years old and is a nursing and pharmacy technician. She is single, has no children, and lives with her mother in a rustic house (made of mudbrick and sticks), located in the district of Huamachuco, province of Sánchez Carrión, department of La Libertad, in the northern highlands of Peru. Elsa Doraly decided to open a small pharmacy in her town during the Covid pandemic, as she has experience as a pharmacy technician. For about a year now she has been running her own small pharmacy from 07:00 to 20:00 with gross monthly sales approximately S/3,500 soles (£740.36) with a profit margin of 35% after paying for the cost of medicines, purchase of materials, and payment of taxes. Via Care International and their local partner we've given her £100 (and paid administration fees) to help her buy further stock for her pharmacy, to hopefully increase her turnover and profitability. These small, locally owned and locally managed pharmacies are a lifeline in developing countries, and deserve our support, We wish Elsa and her mother well with their small business.

May 05, 2022

Andres Geovanny is a smallholder farmer from an area called Rio San Juan in Nicaragua growing basic grains and organic ginger. He is married with two children. Via charity Care International and local partner organisation Doselva, and along with others, we're helping him acquire good quality seeds, organic fertiliser, organic fungicides and tools to plant ginger. The ginger will be planted in an agro-forestry system that maintains the forest canopy and does not contaminate the local environment which is a buffer zone of the Indio Maiz Biological Reserve which is one of the largest protected lowland forest systems in Central America. He will plant between 3-4 acres of land with organic ginger, and we wish him well. Andres is the first farmer/ entrepreneur we've assisted in Nicaragua, and we look forwards to working with others.

May 04, 2022

Happy to have been able to help Jorge Robinson, in the La Esperanza neighbourhood of the Espejo canton, province of Carchi, Ecuador today. Jorge is 29 years old, single and for 10 years he has been growing potatoes on 2 hectares of leased land. His products are sold to merchants and in local markets. His income helps him pay for his household expenses. We're helping him buy agricultural supplies and to hire temporary agricultural workers for harvest, and we wish him well.

April 29, 2022

We've donated £4000 to the Humanitiarian Aid Appeal for Ukraine organised by the Diasters and Emergency Committee. That amount will feed 80 families for a month. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine against the invasion of their country, the multiple war crimes against them, and the hideous destruction of their homes, hospitals, and schools. They are in our thoughts daily.

March 29, 2022

It's difficult to know where to start in supporting the good people of Ukraine against the current invasion by Russian forces. We've considered the good work of the Red Cross, the Disasters and Emergencies Committee, and the many Polish based charities working with refugees there. In the end we thought we'd reach out to the people we know in the Ukraine to ask them about the situation on the ground, and we've decided to help a family that we know well. We've visited Ukraine a couple of times and have very good friends in the central Cherkasy region. Fortunately, being rural, it hasn't seen the worst of the attacks to date, but we're told by our friends that the air raid sirens are constant, that food is hard to get (and that they're running low), that shops have been marauded, and that they're too scared to travel on the empty roads for fear of being shot. They've no car (or driving licence) and there's no public transport that could take them out of the country. We've made an initial donation of €100 to help, and once we know that the transfer system is working OK to their local bank (and that cash is available) we'll consider further support.

March 03, 2022

Gina is 48 years old hardworking woman living in Cebu (which we know well) in the Philippines. She is married to Fernando. The couple have two sons and two daughters. Two of her children are already married and live separately while the other two are still studying in college and in high school. She lives with her family in Cebu Province and her husband works overseas sending income home. Gina is a the owner of a small groceries store stall. She has been running her business for over 10 years. Two of her children help her in running the business. She offers retail and wholesale prices for her customers. She also gives special prices to her regular customers. Her store is open every day from 5 am and closes to 9 pm. Her average gross sales are 6,000 pesos (£86.41) a day. Her estimated working capital is 35,000 pesos (£504.10). We've given her approximately 10% extra working capital to add more stock to her store in the hope that she may better meet the needs of her customers, create more profit and employment, and income to support her family. We're very familiar with small roadside stalls like these, and the important service they provide, including temporary interest-free loans, small-batch product sales (eg washing powder for one wash), and food purchased on the day of consumption. We wish Gina and her community well.

February 15, 2022

Jhonny Jheison is 28 years old, he is a professional photographer in Trujillo, Peru , and we've been supporting him foe past year. His partner is Kelly and they have two children. Their children are studying at a national school in the city of Tumbes. He lives in Barrio Los Jardines, located in the district of Tumbes. Jhonny Jheisonstudied professional photography and currently has a photography business set up in his family home. He has various photography equipment such as reflectors, lights, panels, cameras, furniture, clothes for photo sessions, among other things. His photo packages are from S/10 soles to S/350 soles (£1.92 to £67.36), depending on the type of work and the time it will take to complete the customers’ requests. His main clients are people who want to capture and preserve an important memory of their lives such as: marriages, baptisms, pregnancies, birthdays etc. In addition, he also provides services for companies: product photography and digital marketing services. For these services, he generates approximate monthly income of S/4,600 soles (£884.79), with a profit margin of 75%. Jhonny has his own motorcycle, which he rents out, generating approximate monthly income of S/560 soles (£107.71), with a profit margin of 80%. We're helping him improve his photographic studio, installing new spaces and more themes for photography sessions. He hopes to continue growing his business so that he can employ one or two people who can help him in photo sessions. He wants to attract more clients and create more jobs. With the profits obtained he will be able to provide a better quality of life for his family and continue to develop himself every day in his area of business. We wish him well!

February 02, 2022

Mahmood Shabbir is 24 years old. He lives in Lahore, Pakistan with his sister and parents. His sister is a college student and his elderly parents stay at home. Mahmood Shabbir is the only breadwinner in the family and he works as an auto-repair mechanic. He has been doing this work for the past five years, after finishing his education. He repairs all car models and is apparently very good at his job. Recently Shabbir and his family have been experiencing hard times, so we've given him 6 weeks income to use to support his family and purchase spare parts used for repairing cars, to keep his business afloat and successful. We wish him well.

January 26, 2022

After the recent, terrible Typhoon Rai (Odette) in the Philipinnes, we were minded to support an entrepreneur again there. Clarita is married to Tomas who works as a pipe fitter. They have three sons all going to school: 4th-year college, grade 11, and grade 6. Clarita reports that thankfully her house was not damaged by the recent Typhoon that devastated so much of her area on 16 December 2021. Clarita has been operating a small roadside 'sundry store' business for about six years now. It is a tiny one-room 'shack' retail store that carries a wide variety of goods, including groceries. Her fast-selling items are bread, cold and hot drinks, hygienic products, rice, and vegetables. She sells around 1,500 pesos (£21.56) gross of goods a day, and we were impressed that she allows credit to workers who work in construction sites near where she operates her business in exchange for small weekly installments. We've given her £50 to help with maintaining stocks that she'll be able to sell to keep her kids in education and maintain a reasonable standard of living. We wish her and the people of Cebu well - we've spent months living in the area ourselves, and know well the warm-hearted and good-natured people that live there.

January 21, 2022

Diana Lizet is 31 years old and a single mother to two young children. She lives with her children in the Las Flores Human Settlement of Trujillo, Peru. Diana is described as 'an enterprising, strong, loving and kind' woman. For four years, she has dedicated herself to the retail sale of groceries such as rice, sugar, noodles, oil, cans of fish and eggs. She has a small store in her house, for which her business hours are from 07:00 AM to 07:00 PM, and her main clients are her neighbours. His approximate monthly gross income is S/8,960 soles (£1,702.83). We've helped her buy groceries for her business, such as bags of rice, bags of sugar, oil and eggs. When she sells them the profit will improve her household income, which is the only support that Diana has for her children. We wish her well.

January 19, 2022

Loness, 50, makes her living from selling vegetables and farm produce in Dedza district in Malawi. She has five children. We've given her £45 (and paid fees) to buy maize to better support her family this winter; she'll resell it on at a profit. We wish her and her family well.

January 12, 2022

Mrs. Khanh is 59 years old and married, with three grown-up children living in Cam Thuy district, a mountainous area of Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. Agriculture is the main business activity in her region. Her husband is a manual labour in the village. She has been selling dried food, vegetables in the local market for over 10 years. Mrs. Khanh sells potatoes, shallot, garlic and other vegetables to local people in her area. Since the pandemic, the financial burden has set on her shoulders because her husband's work is unstable. We've given her £100 (and paid costs) to allow her to purchase shallots and garlic to resell on the market to support her and her husband.

January 11, 2022

Thanks to your support, that we've match-funded, we're able to donate £1000 to the Afghanistan Crisis Appeal organised by the Disasters and Emergencies appeal (link above). Children are dying in Afghanistan this winter from cold and starvation; thousands of desperate families caught up in the political turmoil that they played no part in. We're fortunate to be in a position to help in a small way to provide healthcare and winter 'warmth' kits, and thank you for your support- we've noticed many UTT bookings now coming in with £5 (rather than the £2) donation box ticked - it all helps. We're blessed to have a dry roof and a warm home, enough food in the larder this winter, and wish the same could be said for all.

December 15, 2021

Happy to give £50 to Save the Children - remarkably this sum can feed a family of refugees in Yemen for an entire month - a sobering thought given we regularly spend a similar amount on dining out, just one meal. We admire the work of this charity and wish them well.

December 09, 2021

Mr. Chen Yorng is a 31 year old married man with two sons aged 9 and 4 years old. The family live in Battambang Province and he works every day as a construction worker in Battambang town to provide income for the family. We know the town and area; our own son was born while we were living in Cambodia. Mr. Chen Yorng has been a construction worker for the last 10 years. He earns $8 per day from this work. He has no motorised transport, so, along with others we're helping him purchase a Imotorbike to help him travel to work, to improve his transportation flexibility and to hopefully get more work to support his family. We wish him well.

November 30, 2021

Zaldy is a 37 year old single man, living with his parents in Cebu province of the Philippines that we know well. Since 2017 he's been self-employed running a small stall/ shop selling cable television packages and accessories. He also offers services like lamination, photocopying, printing, computer repairs and ID printing from his open-fronted stall on a main road in a village. Daily wages in Cebu are around £6 per day. If you've been to the Philippines you'll know the kind of stall he has - just a few metres square, directly open onto the road, open seven days a week for at least 12 hours a day. We've given him £100 to improve his stock of eelectronic supplies, headsets and microphones from Cebu city. Having more stock will mean he can sell more products and better support himself. We've spent months in the rural Cebu/ Philippines and know how essential this small IT stalls are for keeping the communities connected and online. We wish Zaldy well.

November 24, 2021

Plant Mewn Angen - Children in Need Happy to have been able to help Children in Need with a donation today, as so many others are doing. We wish them well with their work with UK charities and community groups assisting children and young people in poverty, with disability and those experiencing trauma.

November 19, 2021

Muhammad Nazir is 39 years old, and married. He lives in Lahore with his wife and four children, all of whom are in education. Muhammed is a skilled cobbler/ shoemaker currently working in a workshop on daily wages. He earns around £91 monthly, which is not sufficient to meet his family's household needs. Along with his local partner Akhuwat we're assisting him to start up his own small shoe-making workshop and to buy soles, adhesive solution, buckles, and shoe uppers. We wish him well in his new enterprise and thank everyone who has helped support us with their donations when booking holidays Under the Thatch.

November 16, 2021

Today we've donated to help Polish charity Fundacje Ocalenie (that we know, and trust) with their work on the Polish border. You may have hear of the humanitarian disaster on the border between Poland and Belarus, with thousands of refugees and immigrants trapped in sub-zero temperatures. Kids are literally freezing to death, and most have few or no winter clothes. Most are apparently too scared to even light a fire to protect themselves as they are batted daily between Polish border guards (refusing them their right to EU asylum) and the Belarus authorities. It's a hideous situation, and nobody even knows how many bodies are out in the forests. The polish rescue charity that we're supporting provides all manner of assistance to refugees and immigrants in Poland, and is working in this emergency to try and save as many lives as possible.

November 12, 2021

Olga Lucia is 36 years old, single and lives in the Motilon sector of the Bolívar canton, Carchi province in Ecuador. Olga works in the cultivation of granadilla and onions on a hectare of family land. Her crops are sold in the markets for 12 dollars a box. We've helped her buy onion seed, farming inputs and wages to pay to harvest her onion crop. We wish her well, and thank those who have assisted us in making this donation.

November 11, 2021

Abdul Rahman (34) lives with his wife and two infant children in Lahore. He is the sole 'bread winner' in his household , his wife takes care of the household and their children. Abdul iss a rickshaw driver. He has been self-employed for the past 12 years or so. He drives a loader rickshaw, carrying goods and items from one place to another. He earns the equivalent of about £81 per month. He sometimes struggles to pay for the food. His rickshaw is in a poor state, and we've given £100 (plus covered admin) to help him purchase a new rickshaw, which will allow him to work more efficiently and carry more goods. We wish him well.

November 08, 2021

Hapus cefnogi prosiect Yr Urdd heddiw gyda £100 Dros y misoedd nesaf, mae’r Urdd, ynghyd ag asiantaethau eraill yn cefnogi teuluoedd o Affganistan sydd wedi ffoi o’r wlad. I helpu’r teuluoedd setlo, bydd yr Urdd yn cynnal amrywiaeth o weithgareddau ar eu cyfer, o chwaraeon i addysgol. I gyfoethogi’r profiadau hyn ac i’w cyflwyno i ddiwylliant a thirwedd Cymru. Happy to have been able to support charity Yr Urdd today with a donatin of £100 to support them in their project to inrich the lives of Afghan refugess who have recently moved to Wales with daytrips to understand the rich heritage and culture of our nation. Every £1 helps if you'd like to support this project - follow the link.

October 20, 2021

We've donated £1000 to Refugee Kindness, North Wales to help them continue the great work that they do. They're a Welsh charity based in the Wrexham area that supports displaced refugees and asylum seekers locally by providing household goods and support. With the distressing scenes this week in Afghanistan, we felt that this week was the right week to make a significant donation to recognise the plight of refugees and the good work that many do to support them. Take a look at their Facebook page to see how they're supporting refugees to help themselves - eg by providing training and sewing machines for individuals like Rokaya to start small seamstress/ sewing businesses. We've been really impressed by the suppor they give, and we encourage others to visit their page, make a donation/ buy a raffle ticket etc.

August 20, 2021

Evelyn is a 43 year old married with four children in Cebu, the Philippines that we know and have visited. Three of her children live with her and attend school. Her husband is Alexander, a policeman. The family all lives in Cebu province. Evelyn set up her own small cafe - 'Cafe Meal Ya'. We've given her £100 (and paid admin) to help her grow the business. 'Cafe Meal Ya' means family members eating together. Evelyn rents the space, hires one cook and two helpers and is open from 6 in the morning to 8 in the evening. She brings in around 5,000 pesos a day before costs (£71.43). Our assistance will allow her to buy fresh ingredients needed in her everyday cooking as well as a contribution towards the cafe renovation. We wish her and her family well.

August 15, 2021

Mrs Hoa is 26 years old and married. She lives with her husband and their two young children in Thieu Hoa district, a rural region of Thanh Hoa province. of Vietnam. Agriculture is the main business here. Her husband is Ky and they are both farmers, growing rice and vegetables for their own consumption and for selling in the market for profits. Mrs Hoa has also set up a small business selling clothes in the local market. We're assisting, along with others, through the Thanh Hoa MFI to help her buy more clothes to resell. She hopes the investment in her business will do well, and we wish her and her family well.

August 14, 2021

Maram Abdul Haq is married with two young children. She lives with her family in the town of Nablus in the West Bank where she runs a store selling women's clothes. She has had the business for more than a decade and runs it with her husband and mother-in-law. We're helping her buy in new stock from Turkey for the summer season, specifically lingerie, clothing for weddings, and pyjamas. We're happy to be able to support the people of Palestine to help themselves through such small business ventures.

June 24, 2021

Liliana Cujilema is from the small town of Pasaje in southwestern Ecuador. She is self-employed selling cosmetics, and her husband works as a full-time labourer at a local banana plantation. They have a son who is 7. Due to the ongoing health pandemic he currentky has only online classes. Liliana sells perfumes, deodorants, creams, shampoos, and makeup and makes around 365 USD a month in profit. She keeps the items at home and makes sales and deliveries to her customers each day. Liliana actually started the business around 11 years ago when she was just 18 and was studying part-time. We've given her £50 to help buy some more stock (ie bringing her around £50 of profit) to help support her family during this pandemic. We wish her and the family well - small-scale entrepreneurs like Liliana are the foundation of the world economy.

June 23, 2021

Mr. Hieng Heng is a 32 year old married man with two sons aged 10 and 2. The 10 year old attends school. The family lives in the Sangke District of Battambang Province where he farms short-term rice each year as the source of income to support the family. Mr Hieng Heng grows short term rice and with this variety he can get two harvests per year. All of his crops are then sold to a local middle-man who buys direct from his farm. He now wishes to take the next step and expand his farm to the next stage by purchasing an additional 5000 square metres of paddy field land, which should increase his crop by two tons of rice per hectare and thereby increase the family income. Along with others, we're helping him make that purchase, and we wish him and the family well.

June 19, 2021

Geovanny Abad is from a rural community called Entierros which is located in southeastern Ecuador. We've given him £100 (and paid administration) to help him with his coffee smallholding. Don Geovanny has doubled his land to two hectares, and we're helping him buy a coffee pulper and a water tank. We wish him well.

June 12, 2021

Mr. Kanha Chea is a 37 year old married man who lives in the Morng Russey District of Battambang Province of Cambodia that we know. He and his wife farm wet season rice each year as their source of income. Mr. Kanha Chea has been a farmer for over 10 years, farming wet-season rice each year on his four-hectare paddy field and getting a harvest of 3 tons of rice per hectare. In order to maintain the current crop levels we've given him £100 (and contributed to administration costs) to help with ploughing and harvesting costs. We wish me and his family well.

May 26, 2021

Ángel Benito Escobedo Rojas is 24 years old. Single, he lives with his parents in their home built of rustic adobe material, located in the Cajabamba district or Trujillo, Peru. With the help of his mother, Angel opened a small stall selling soft drinks (water, minerals, juices and yoghurt drinks). His business hours are from 07:00 am to 7:00 pm and his average sales is around S / 10,000.00 soles (£1891.35) with a profit margin of c25%. Life has been tough in Peru during the Covid pandemic, and we've given him £100 (and paid admin) to help him restock/ bulk buy to help keep his business running and to help carry him through to the post-Covid world. We wish him well.

May 17, 2021