%205.jpg)
Recent News
Children’s concert for Natalya’s Fund
December 2022
We are very grateful to Abergavenny Symphony Orchestra, who have chosen Natalya’s Fund as their charity for this year’s children’s concert. The concert is free although there will be a retiring collection. It will be on Sunday 11 December at King Henry VIII School Abergavenny, NP7 6EP. With refreshments from 3.30, the concert will start at 4pm. This year the theme is ‘Animals’ with music from The Jungle Book, Jurassic Park and much more. Children are invited to bring a teddy bear or to dress up as an animal. If you are in the area, do come along for what promises to be a fun afternoon.
Three Classrooms to Rise from the Ashes?
27 April 2022
Bughungu School is located in a village which borders Rwenzori Mountain National Park in Uganda. The school and its community suffered under an insurgency of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) between the years 1997 and 2002. During that time the school was burnt to ashes. Added to that it's in a hard-to-reach area, without facilities such as electricity, mobile phone coverage, a proper road network, healthcare and safe drinking water. The school has no accommodation for teachers and not enough seats for the children. It has six classrooms with a roll of 780 pupils (401 boys and 379 girls).
​
The school would like to build three more classrooms, which would reduce their average class size from 130 to 87. Rohan, one of our trustees, visited the area a few weeks ago, and spent time with Teddy, a local deputy head. Teddy subsequently prepared a budget and applied to us for a grant, which we are now considering. The total budget is around £20,000, of which £1,600 can be raised locally for some of the materials and labour. We have yet to decide, if we go ahead, which of the remaining items to fund.
'Gateway' - Girls' Access to Education
13 July 2021
Today a grant of £300 has been provided to help increase girls' attendance at Kaputu School, Malawi, by supplying the girls with sanitary pads which are locally-made, reusable, and last about 2 years. The pads will go to all the 100 girls of the appropriate age who have not yet received them.
Provision of the pads to schoolgirls in that country is the object of a programme called ‘Gateway’ – Girls’ Access To Education – which is run by UK charity Starfish Malawi, whose mission is "to reduce extreme poverty and build the Kingdom of God in the lives of children, through collaborative work within communities, schools and churches in the UK and Malawi." We envisage our grant as only the start of a partnership which will grow and may embrace other needs at the school as well.
Local project leaders have promised further information towards the end of next month, and we shall pass it on to you.
Welcome Rohan!
28 April 2021
Today we welcome our new trustee, Rohan Lewis.
​
Rohan grew up in a conventional family and attended the Anglican church. She was confirmed in 1965. She taught in a Primary School in London for 7 years, with a class and responsibility for music. She met and married Richard, her husband rather quickly during 1979 and never regretted it. They spent 13 years in Africa, living in Liberia, Kenya, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Richard worked as an agronomist and they travelled widely and had some wonderful experiences. She hopes some of these she can bring as a trustee to Natalya’s Fund. They saw examples of both good and bad charity work from the UK. She taught in schools when possible. They started a family and left Africa in 1992 with three daughters. They moved to Wales in 1993 and now live on a holder farm outside Abergavenny. She taught deaf children for 13 years. In 2007 she left the Anglican church and became a Quaker.