Children of Emaus - well 54 of them!

Sometimes it seems if it wasn´t for the British ex-pats living here then many Spanish charities would go to the wall. Giving certainly does not appear to come easily or willingly to the locals from what I have witnessed over the years. Rattle a tin or offer raffle tickets for a fundraising charity event and they look the other way.... in these economically strained times it is understandable up to a point, but charities are struggling even more so now.

A few weeks ago local ex-pat Pete Cranage organised a special fundraising evening to raise much needed funds for Emaus, who are a well known charity on the Costa Blanca. They have 8 shelters dotted around the province which houses around 80 children - all of which have been taken into care by social services. Pete enlisted the help of one man supremo Matt King - entertainer, singer, performer all rolled into one and Rebecca Troch - Owner and Choreographer of the Broadway Dance Academy and together they raised a staggering 1490 euros!

Volunteers who came to help entertain - me included!

In addition to the fundraiser, a small group of members from the Companians Social Club (based in Albir) headed to one of the homes to put on an afternoon of fun and entertainment for the children. In total, 54 children attended from across the 8 homes - ranging in age from 4 to 16. They were first treated to lunch courtesy of "Something Else" ... a bistro in Albir. Dutch owner Els provided the lunch and chef free of charge and even fed all the staff and helpers.

After lunch the children all went outside and enjoyed a variety of activities... its harder than you think trying to organise that many children though (and the medicinal glass of wine in the evening was much needed!). The older ones took part in a game of football, cheered on by the younger ones on the touchline. Then it was time for the younger ones to have some fun - but it was somewhat peculiar trying to explain what an egg & spoon or three legged race is to a Spanish child though. Fortunately someone had the hindsight to boil he eggs first otherwise there would have been scrambled eggs on the pitch by the end of the afternoon! They also had a sack race, but using sturdy black plastic bin liners - Im not sure whether they still make the hessian ones like I remember in my childhood days.

Desks & chairs being collected from Computech

The facilities at the home I visited were basic to say the least and due to funding, or lack of, they rely heavily on donations. One very generous donation was made at the beginning of this week by Sonny Merali, a British computer engineer and owner of Computech in La Nucia. He donated 25 school desks and 40 chairs after his wife Suzanne saw the condition of the ones they were having to make do with - they are certainly extremely appreciative as are all the children who will be using them. Well done Sonny and Suzanne....

The first photograph was taken on the football pitch which was funded and installed by the Tartan Army Children´s Charity (TACC on face book). Due to security and child protection we cannot show the childrens faces but the photographer Alex had the brilliant idea of taking a picture with everyones backs to the camera - genius!