Blog Posts - Golden Futures

Rith Linda - a new pharmacist for Cambodia

22/7/2018

As a trustee of Golden Futures, I first met Linda when I travelled to Cambodia in 2006 to volunteer as an English teacher at JCA, the organisation which is now called NFC. She was living at NFC with her brother Malika, and impressed me as a diligent, focused student. Linda has taken NFC's focus on the value of education to heart, and when she finished high school, she chose a pharmacy course. She was able to find an individual sponsor who supported her course, and set off on the long journey to becoming a qualified pharmacist.

At Golden Futures, we have a policy that we never have a young person start a course that we can't afford for them to finish. We hold the money in our reserves, in trust essentially for the young person we are supporting. This is a luxury we have as an organisation, but one that sadly isn't always possible for individuals. When Linda's course changed length and cost midway through, her sponsor was not able to keep supporting her to the end. Luckily, we were able to step in, and provide the funding for the final years of Linda's course.

Below are the pictures of Linda graduating with her Associate degree - she will continue to study for another year to reach the Bachelor's degree. She has already worked part-time as a pharmacist, making a positive contribution to Cambodian society. If things had been different, her potential could have been wasted. It's thanks to our supporters, her sponsor, and NFC, that it wasn't.

I'll finish with Linda's words: "I will try the best for my bachelor degree even though it is sometimes a little difficult, but I can do it. Many thanks for always staying beside me and helping."

Forever Young @ Walkley Community Centre

24/3/2018

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the fundraising gig put on for us by Forever Young, a Sheffield based band that counts among its members Peter Bull, our long serving trustee and treasurer. Rather than counting our funds he was counting time as they played a selection of hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

There was an amazing turnout at Walkley Community Centre - almost 100 people came to enjoy the music, and contribute to Golden Futures. We raised £475.92 in total through donations and by selling raffle tickets, which is all going to support our work in Cambodia, principally that with the Countryside Education Project.

Following a short introduction from the Chair of the trustees, we also showed a video made by Dang Kosal, an NFC graduate who now works in the Cambodia television industry. It has a powerful message about the importance of education and the way it can change lives. You can see the video again here.

Thanks to everyone who came and contributed, and particularly to Gerry's Café and Beeches Farm Shop for their kind donations of raffle prizes.

Fundraising Update from Andrew Crosby - December to February

1/3/2018

Andrew is working hard on his fundraising for Golden Futures, and training for his challenges. He's written us an update on his progress, and you can support him here.

As I mentioned in my last update back in October I really want to help with transition support for Golden Futures with the money raised going towards this important part of progression for the young people the charity supports.
The training has continued through the winter months. I completed the 6 Dale Challenge on the 11th November, managing to fall over twice and cut my right hand in the process!
In January whilst on a 29 walk down the Erewash Canal I managed to twist my ankle. However fortunately within a month I was able to give it a real test by walking 43 miles on what can only be described as a cold and miserable 10th February. I have focused on my walking through these last few months as I am protecting my right leg from a ongoing glute problem. It’s a gamble as my training time for the London marathon did not start until the end of a February and I am hoping that my leg will bear up to the pressure of running the marathon in April.
So far since last July I have walked/ run a total of 1725 miles.
Many thanks to David Hewitt & Co PL, chartered accountants, Como, Perth, Australia for sponsoring me so I could get a new pair of long distance walking trainers and to my fiancée Sonja and my 3 children Luke, Joel and Hope for helping me buy another new pair of trail shoes. Also to all who are part of Boots & Blogs a walking group that are supporting the fundraising.
So the total now stands at just under £2000.00, #grateful - and I am fully committed on completing my two remaining challenges, the 2018 London Marathon in April and the 85 mile Isle of Man Parish Walk in June.
Please give if you can - together we can #changelives
Thanks for all the support
Andrew 🙋🏻‍♂️

Fundraising Update from Andrew Crosby: July - October 2017

25/10/2017

Andrew has taken on a number of challenges for Golden Futures, and has kindly written us an update on his progress.
To help support him, visit his fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Andrew.Crosby2

My fundraising for Golden Futures started at the end of July. I really want to help with transition support for the charity, with the money raised going towards this important part of progression for the young people. My first target was to find suitable footwear to help the dreaded blisters. The Rotary Club of Amber Valley kindly supported me with this and so a new pair of Brooks trial shoes were purchased. With the help of Printscene I have a training shirt - over 30 companies, local and from different parts of the world have agreed to support my efforts.

My first challenge was to complete the round Rotherham Walk on the 15th October followed by the Leicester Half Marathon the next day. I made good progress with my walking distances steadily increasing 5 miles on each walk over a period of weeks. On the 23rd September with friends I completed the 25 mile Yorkshire 3 Peak challenge and then with the support of the team that are 'Boots & Blogs' a 50 mile walk was ticked off on the 30th September in 13 hrs and 50 mins.
From the outset I have been determined to do the training needed to complete my main fundraising challenges. It was a very early start and late finish but I completed the Rotherham walk on the 14th October within the target time of 16 hours. This has now given me the right to enter a 100 walk if I fancy!
Up with surprisingly fresh legs I headed to Leicester the next morning to run their half marathon. #completed So the fundraising total stands at just under £1650.00, #grateful - and now I am focused on completing my other two challenges, the 2018 London Marathon in April and the 85 mile Isle of Man Parish Walk in June.
The training continues, steady increases to the distances should ensure that my prep leaves me in good place. I hope!

Thanks for all the support

Andrew

I conquered the Birmingham International Marathon!

19/10/2017

Seth has done his marathon - well done Seth! Here are his thoughts on the day.

I made the full distance, I'm overjoyed to have finished the whole course in my hometown event!

Build up to the day in the morning was reasonably standard (I imagine) for a regular marathon runner. I got up at 5am and ate my breakfast before heading over to the bus, transferring us from the city centre to the Alexandra stadium. When I arrived at the stadium I waited for an hour or so before the start. I did get nervous as time passed by but I was raring to get running.
The course was a lot hillier than I expected but the support out on the course was immense. The crowd cheering my name gave me that extra spurt and motivated me to keep going, especially through Canon Hill Park and in the last mile. I must admit the last 5 miles were a real struggle!

My aspiration was to compete the distance in around 4 hours and 30 minutes. However, I just missed out on my target time and managed to complete the marathon in under 4 hours and 35 minutes. Nonetheless I am so chuffed and proud for achieving this milestone.

I am eager to start running again and I hope to be back to Parkrun at least in a few weeks time. I have set my sights on new tests, may be another marathon could be part of my plans? But for now I'll take a much needed break - my legs still feel achy but I'll be back to full fitness soon.

Here's some pictures of me out on the course and at the end of the race celebrating with my medal.

Thank you to everybody for your constant support (friends, family and of course the spectators) and thanks for reading too!

Again, please send any final donations to my fundraising page here.

Seth

Race day is fast approaching...

13/10/2017

There's less than 48 hours until Seth's big race. Check out his latest update here.

Hello again!

I have been really lazy over the past week besides going to work and watching Ellie compete in the Sheffield TenTenTen event.

Rest and recuperation has been in order for my body to recover properly. I’ve also started to prepare myself for the big day using a heavy carb diet.

My marathon t-shirt has arrived and I’m very impressed with the fabric and style! If you are interested the t-shirt was created and personalised through Doodletogs.

Left is me wearing my marathon top.
Right is the front and back of the shirt

This is my last post before the marathon. I'm a little nervous but also excited by the thought of getting around the course. I will let you know how I got through the pain barrier next week. Wish me luck, and I’ll see you on the other side!

Any last donations or messages of support can be sent here.

Seth

Two weeks to go!

1/10/2017

Here is another update from Seth Kirby on his training for the Birmingham marathon. So far he has raised over £700 for Golden Futures - well done Seth!

Hello!

This week saw my training programme officially come to an end. The last month or so has been really tough because I’ve been experiencing a couple of injury niggles. I’ve decided to rest my body until the day of the marathon. Let's hope it pays off!

Even with a few setbacks I have still managed to cover quite a lot of ground and I’ve run my longest distances to date. This has partly been down to my new fitness watch, which has enabled me to improve my pacing. Also, the weather has made an enormous difference because I’ve been able to train for longer without getting too cold or wet.

I still regularly take part in Parkrun and have been a bit of a Parkrun tourist over recent months having been to Lincoln and Wolverhampton’s Parkruns. Now that my running schedule has finished I have been able to volunteer too, like at yesterday's Cambridge Parkrun.

On the left is me at Wolverhampton Parkrun, near the bandstand. On the right it's me sprinting to the finish at Lincoln Parkrun. Bottom left is me marshalling at Cambridge Parkrun.

On a side note, earlier this month I took part in the Chariots of Fire race in Cambridge. The annual charity event involves teams of six each running a 1.6 mile course. I was part of a group representing Anglia Ruskin University's business school, dressed in Where's Wally attire! Chariots of Fire was an overwhelming success raising money for Alzheimer's Research UK. The route passed through the picturesque grounds of Trinity, Kings and Clare colleges which was a real treat. Our team were even photographed in the Cambridge News.

As always, if you can support my fundraising efforts, please do so here. I will hopefully receive my personalised marathon t-shirt next week. I will of course post some photos in my next update before the big day.

Seth

International volunteers and “voluntourism”.

26/8/2017

My first contact with NFC, an organisation Golden Futures works very closely with now, was as a gap year volunteer doing a six month placement teaching English, organised through a UK company. Since then, I’ve supervised, supported and co-ordinated international volunteers at NFC several times. I’ve seen many volunteers, and so my feelings about international volunteering in general remain very conflicted. On the one hand, almost every volunteer I’ve met has been there thanks to a genuine desire to do good, and I’ve seen the positive impact a good volunteer can have. On the other side, I’ve also seen some of the negative impacts that even the best volunteers can have.

Reading an article on “voluntourism” prompted me to write this post. The term “voluntourism” is used to describe the mixture of travel and volunteering that international volunteering often involves, and a quick search on Google will give you any number of articles and opinion pieces talking about the problems with it. Some arguments that I’ve seen include:

Voluntourism is generally undertaken by gap year students, who don’t actually bring any skills to the work they do.
Voluntourism, particularly at orphanages, turns children into tourist attractions, with myriad negative impacts, including children being kept in deliberately poor conditions to encourage more donations.
When working with children and with the host organisation, the volunteers have more of a negative impact than a positive one.
Access to children for volunteers opens a pathway for sex offenders to gain access to children they wouldn’t have in their home country.
Voluntourism is a selfish act pretending to be a benevolent one. If these volunteers really wanted to make a positive change they could volunteer closer to home.

It is impossible to run anything that approaches ethical volunteering opportunity without considering all these issues, and more. It is for these reasons that we have been very careful in thinking about how volunteers do Golden Futures work at NFC, and the organisations we work with to make this happen. For the last few years we have been working with Intervol, who organise and support the volunteers. They are equally concerned by the problems that volunteering can pose, and so together we have put a number of safeguards and policies in place.

Firstly, the volunteers only go out after training in the work they will be doing, and their activities are focused on things they can do effectively, and have a strong positive impact with. These include planning and leading workshops on topics, mentoring young people and researching the University Guide, and these activities are reviewed annually to see if they are still best done by a volunteer. We do not ask our volunteers to undertake teaching, or to do labour that could be done by a Cambodian person. We do not work with organisations that work with under 18s and don’t have a strong Safeguarding policy, which includes a policy on visitors and on volunteers which focuses on the best interest of the child. All of the volunteers that travel out with Intervol to work at NFC have DBS checks before they go. We’re constantly reviewing these policies, and trying our best to ensure that the volunteers have both a positive experience and a positive impact.

The final point, however, is a strange one to address. I feel that choosing to volunteer rather than to backpack around South East Asia is a generous choice. It is true that volunteers get to see a different country and experience a different culture. However, they aren’t getting that for free – they pay for their costs, and then they work hard when they are there. They could donate the cost of the flights to charity and not go, just as we could all cancel our holidays and donate the money to charity as well. However, if we’re going to travel overseas, volunteering as part of supported, planned and ethical scheme is not the worst thing we can do there.

At Golden Futures, we’re constantly thinking about the work that the Intervol volunteers do in Cambodia, and how we can ensure that they are a consistent force for good. We’ve not got it perfectly right yet, but I can confidently say that we are working hard to address the negative sides of volunteering, and the volunteers leave things better than when they found them!

Countryside Education Project

20/8/2017

During our monitoring visit this August, it was brilliant to get the opportunity to visit the Countryside Education Project (CSEP), a new undertaking by two organisations we have worked closely with in the past, New Future for Children (NFC) and Stichting Dom-Ray.

This project was set up by Chork Ratana, an NFC graduate who wanted to give something back to the poor community he grew up in before NFC. With the help of Stichting Dom-Ray, Ratana was able to set up a school in Kor village in Prey Veng province, and he travels there every weekend to teach English to around 100 children from local villages.

Stichting Dom-Ray and Ratana approached Golden Futures because of our expertise in supporting disadvantaged children into university or vocational training. They were concerned by the vicious cycle that the young people in Kor village face. Due to poverty, their families encourage them to drop out of school, and then go to work in a garment factory, for a wage of around $5 / day. The factory only employs them up to the age of 30, at which point they slip back into subsistence farming. Education is the key to leaving this cycle - and that is what Golden Futures is all about.

Our Intervol volunteers have been working closely with Ratana, and have travelled to Kor to deliver a number of workshops on future possibilities and key skills for the future. Stichting Dom-Ray have been able to fund a number of university places for the Kor village students, and so the volunteers have devised a week of training and orientation to prepare these students for the move from the countryside to the city, as well as mentoring them to make informed decisions about their futures, and the courses they might study.

To see all this, and hear the story from Ratana himself, was a privilege, and we hope that we will be working together more in the future.

Congratulations Thai Sreyneang

1/8/2017

Thai Sreyneang was a catering student who used a Golden Futures loan to buy equipment to cook meals for the volunteers at New Future for Children. Seven years later and she's now working as a chef in a restaurant.

But that's not all, Thai Sreyneang still plans to set up her own business and is researching ways to get her own food stall. We're so pleased with all the hard work she's put in, and what she's managed to achieve. We can't wait to see what the future has in store!