Zumba-tastic

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

Massive thanks to Jacki and Tiffany holding a fantastic and festive two hours of Zumba fitness fun, followed by a get-together with a brilliant raffle, some mince pies and a festive tune or two… which raised £480 for Child of Hope!

And thanks to everyone who ran fundraisers for CoH in the build-up to Christmas – drop us a line and let us know how you got on!

Christmas video out-takes

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

Our team and kids in Uganda had great fun making the 2014 video series: the 12 days of Christmas... Uganda-style. Here are the out-takes!

Final day of our video The 12 days of Christmas!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s day 12 – the finale of our fun Christmas video series: The CoH 12 days of Christmas… Ugandan-style! 

You can also see it on our Youtube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo. And there’s a final piece to see… on Boxing Day we’ll show some of the out-takes.

We continue to look ahead into the future with high expectations. In 2015 our primary school will be full, in the sense that our oldest children will have reached 'P7' - the final year before the transition to secondary school. There will be even more parents on our income generation programme and we will expand our organisational income programmes to include not just rice, pig and rabbit growing, but also a transport service in the form of 'boda-bodas' (motorcycles)!  

We are hopeful that these plans will be successful, but nothing is guaranteed! As the saying goes… 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' and we continue to push forward with our ideas of being creative and not being afraid of taking calculated risks.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year – Moses and Bex

It's all worth it!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s day 11 of our wacky Christmas video: The CoH 12 days of Christmas! Enjoy the fun and a little insight into life in our school and the Namatala slum in Uganda.

You can also see it on our Youtube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo.

There are many sacrifices which have to be made by many people in the process of alleviating poverty in a sustainable and honourable way. We are extremely privileged to see first-hand that these sacrifices are definitely worth it. We hope you think so too. 

Speaking of sacrifices... none of our programmes would be possible without your support, so we take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to all of you. Your prayers, encouraging words, advice and financial help are making a massive difference in the lives of some of the poorest residents Namatala slum. We thank God for you on a daily basis.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year – Moses and Bex in Uganda

Growth... and not just the building (+ new video!)

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

While watching the building grow, we have also witnessed the growth of our children - physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. As we've been filming our annual Christmas video... we've marvelled at these young teenagers take part, speaking fluent English and putting forward their ideas confidently... seemingly a world away from the tiny hoodlums we started with!

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year – Moses and Bex in Uganda.

And now... it’s day 10 of our wacky Christmas video series: The CoH 12 days of Christmas... Ugandan-style! You can also see it on our Youtube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo. Enjoy!

It's day 9 of our mad 12 Days of Christmas videos... Ugandan-style

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s day 9 of our daft Christmas video: The CoH 12 days of Christmas! Enjoy… and catch a glimpse of slum life and how we wage war on poverty for these kids.

You can also see it on our Youtube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo.

Right now we are watching a range of workmen putting the last touches to the top floor of our school-in-the-slum – gutters, an internal ceiling and plastering the external walls. These guys all live within the slum and it's a joy for us to be able to provide paid work for willing hands. Not just them but all our staff... teachers, administrators, social workers, cleaners... all who commit themselves on a daily basis to ensure that the futures of our children far exceed where they have reached themselves.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year – Moses and Bex

What a long way we've come... and Day 8 of our Christmas video!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s been another exciting and challenging year for Child of Hope during 2014 and we are both amazed at how far Child of Hope has come from the humble days of helping just a handful of children in a borrowed church hall back in 2008. It’s been great fun (not to mention a great challenge!) to see our school building grow from a wasteland to a four-storey premises filled with eager young minds.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a blessed and prosperous New Year – Moses and Bex

And now it’s day 8 of our zany Christmas video: The CoH 12 days of Christmas! You can also see it on ourYoutube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo.

Video 5 of 12 Days of Christmas!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s day five of our Christmas video: The CoH 12 days of Christmas - Ugandan style!

And today is our special Christmas party for all 365 pupils. They will have a great meal and each receive a gift, some clothing and sweets. It's a terrific event that brings a lot of happiness to the children – and they can bring a parent and brother/sister along too.

Thanks again to everyone who has donated to make this possible – today you are making Christmas very special to a lot of kids who are so poor that the concept of a gift is unknown to many.

Enjoy our video... you can also see it on our Youtube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo.

All change

[Social media for Prism Project Management Associates]

A new book published by the Change Management Institute will form the basis for the updatedChange Management Foundation and Practitioner Qualification from 2015… The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook.

The title is the official guide to the CMI Body of Knowledge and is explicitly designed to help practitioners, employers and academics define and practice change management successfully – and to develop change management maturity within their organisation... more - and order from Amazon

New video - Day 4 of 12 Days of Christmas!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s day four of our Christmas video: The CoH 12 days of Christmas - Ugandan style! Our school-in-the-slum hosts budding future movie-makers! Enjoy the fun and some insight into life in our school and the Namatala slum in Uganda.

New video - day 3 of 12 Days of Christmas!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s day three of our wacky Christmas video: The CoH 12 days of Christmas! Enjoy the fun and a little insight into life in our school and the Namatala slum in Uganda.

New video - Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas in a Ugandan slum

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

Yes it’s day 2 of our wacky Christmas video! You can also see it on our Youtube channel, or you can watch/download on Vimeo.

ALSO... If you’re into Zumba and you live in Dorset… don’t forget the special Zumba event on Mon Dec 15 to raise funds for our work with slum children! It takes place at Lytchett Matravers Village Hall in Dorset at 7pm (doors open 6:40pm) and costs £7.00.

Join Jacki and Tiffany for a fantastic and festive two hours of Zumba fitness fun, followed by a get-together with a brilliant raffle, some mince pies and a festive tune or two! For tickets please contact Jacki on 07533 806 933 or e-mail her on jackizumba@hotmail.co.uk - facebook: Zumba withJacki.

New video... first day of Christmas!

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

It’s that time again… for the Child of Hope Christmas video! And this year you’re in for a treat – the kids in Namatala have filmed one each day for the next 12 days to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas. Big apologies to anyone who likes to hold to the traditional version, but they are a bit of fun and give a little insight into life in our school and the slum. Here’s no.1… enjoy!

Click the picture to watch the video – it takes you to our Youtube page. Or you can watch it on Vimeo.

Many thanks to everyone who has donated to our Christmas party on December 17 (next Wednesday)… it’s going to very special for the kids and their families. If you forgot to give and want to, there’s still time! Any extra money given will be used to bolster our nutritional food programme… so it’s all great! You can easily and safely donate online… please click below!

Why can’t we get anything done?

[Social media for Prism Project Management Associates]

We’re not the only ones talking about the ‘Knowing-Doing Gap’ - Jeffrey Pfeffer’s great article Why can’t we get anything done? gives us this insight…

“Knowledge is only useful if you do something with it... It means tackling the hard work of making something happen. It's much easier and much safer to sit around and have intellectual conversations, to gather large databases, to invest in technical infrastructure — and never actually implement anything.”

He adds: “Ask yourself this question: Would you undergo heart surgery if the surgeon had been trained in the same way that business-school students are trained? Imagine that the surgeon had sat around in medical school discussing heart-surgery cases, watching heart-surgery videos, and listening to great heart surgeons talk about what they did — and now you're lying on the operating table, that surgeon's first real patient. Would you actually let that surgeon cut you open? I don't think so!”

This is just what we’re saying about project management, and why we’re so passionate about helping P3M professionals become more competent. It’s not just knowing, but doing that counts.

Meet the team: Lucy Maidman

[Photography and social media for Store & Secure self-storage]

Facility manager Lucy is another netball player – she plays for Titans in the Bournemouth league with sister Sophie – and she loves anything vintage and shabby chic furniture (favourite shop is Molly’s Den in Bournemouth).

Lucy lives in Ashley Cross, Poole, with partner Matt, who handles all the graphic design work for Store & Secure Self Storage – and together they like nothing more than an evening at local bar Camden.

Lucy has been with Store & Secure Self Storage since its very beginning in 2010 and was the creative force behind how it looks today, involved in branding, fit-out and setting up the company and facility. Inspiration for much of that was fuelled by a period of work experience with friends Big Storage in Manchester.

Before that, Lucy had travelled extensively throughout Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and New York.

And a couple of cheesy Christmas cracker jokes! (it’s that time of year, sorry)…

What kind of music do self-storage managers like to listen to? 

Bubble-wrap!

Why did the removal-man have a black eye? 

Because he spent all day boxing.

Water, water...

[Social media for slum charity Child of Hope]

We get through rather a lot of water in a school this size, so we do our best to ensure it’s as fresh and clean as possible. Soon we’ll be looking at rainwater harvesting to save costs and ensure a regular supply. But in the meantime, we’ve moved our main tank – it had formerly sat on the school’s flat roof, prior to us building the third level and sloping roof.

Part of a very generous grant from the Welsh Government paid for a new concrete stand with tall legs, on which the 5,000 litre tank now sits and forms a water tower! It supplies water to our kitchen (which makes meals for over 400 people everyday), sinks and toilets.

Qualification resource guide for project managers

[Social media for Prism PMA]

Our friends at APM certainly love long book titles… but they are hugely useful resources for project managers. Now APM has partnered with training provider Parallel Project Management to publishAPMP: The APM Project Management Qualification Study Guide.

Based on the highly successful Your journey to professional project management: How to pass the APMP, the guide aims to cut through the jargon, providing examples and real hands-on practical advice on how to better manage projects and pass the exam.

At its core are 12 sections that follow the same basic systematic approach as the APMP: The APM Project Management Qualification syllabus. Each section includes a learning outcome with groups of assessment criteria that consider the breadth of knowledge encapsulated within the APM Body of Knowledge 6th edition and elsewhere.

Format: Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781903494059
Author: Bolton & Naybour
Publication Date: 15-Dec-2014

Click here to pre-order in paperback

Platinum... or is it?

[Photography and social media for high-end joinery Kirolite]

On this bespoke superyacht we finished a host of fittings in a convincing and robust metal-look finish (distressed platinum) that ran as a theme throughout the ship.

Some items we made from wood and coated, others – like this amazing spiral staircase - were made by another supplier for us to finish. We also manufactured luxury doors, cupboards, vanity units and wall cladding for this installation.

Coating wood or metal products in an antique metal finish is becoming a regular job for us, working with interior designers and discerning customers who expect increasingly exotic finishes in homes, hotels, offices, retail stores and superyachts.

More exams

[Social media for Ugandan slum charity Child of Hope]

This time it’s the turn of the older pupils in their end-of-year exams, which helps determine which class they go to next year.

Each child’s sponsor will soon receive a letter from their child informing how they have performed over the last term, complete with school report and Christmas card… hopefully it will arrive in time for Christmas!

We are delighted that these children – who before Child of Hope’s school would have had no education – are now achieving great grades and are getting closer each year to their hope of a good job and all the potential that offers them.

Our school has children who still need sponsoring at just £15 (€20) per month… if you’d like to help, please click here for information.

Banana island

[Social media for solid surface fabricator and joinery Kirolite]

A lot of solid surface furniture is fabricated in white – and it looks great – but sometimes a huge splash of colour is just the thing in a kitchen!

In using extremely bold pop colours, the ISLAND PURE is a perfect balance between elegance and innovation.

Its original charm and attention to detail go flawlessly with the most avant-garde interior designs. The energetic colour of HI-MACS® Banana is used on the entire worktop as well as the breakfast bar shelf. Small lamps create beautiful lighting behind the smooth curves of the island and keep the Minimal Art aspect intact.

Location: Bucarest, Romania
Design: Adriana Tihon/Atvangarde Surfaces

Fabrication: Atvangarde Surfaces
Material: HI-MACS® Banana
Photo credit: Alexei Tacu

Christmas delights

[Photography and social media for JED Art]

Here are a few of the Christmas items and gifts that will be on offer at my charity ceramics sale tomorrow...

The wreaths can be hung on the wall or used as a centre piece with a big candle in the middle.

Please come tomorrow and buy something to help me raise funds for my son Sam out in the Philippines, working with abandoned kids with charity Palawan Rescue. There must be something you just MUST have! Great for last-minute pressies too. My home, 10am–4pm. www.jedart.co.uk

[Photography and social media for artist and potter Jan Dowding]

All things pretty today... if you like flowers, you will love these – more items that are on offer at my charity ceramics sale this Saturday, at my Broadstone home and studio 10am–4pm.

The flowerpots are terracotta with glazed earthenware flowers, very attractive indoors and out. The bowls are pinch pots with flowers moulded on the outside. The flowers can either be hung on wire or just placed... they are very pretty.

Sickle-cell success for young Andrew

[Social media for Uganda slum school charity Child of Hope]

Great to report that it’s been 11 months since Andrew – one of our pupils in P.3 who suffers from Sickle-cell disease – has not had to go to hospital or needed a blood transfusion.

Previously Andrew used to admitted almost every week and he could miss classes for weeks. But after Bex consulted Dr Jan at nearby Joy hospice to help boost Andrew’s immune system and health, Andrew has never missed a class! Now he receives nutritional therapy and wears special protective clothing and is enjoying much-improved health.

Sickle-cell disease is a hereditary blood disorder associated with a number of acute and chronic health problems, such as severe infections, attacks of severe pain and stroke, and there is an increased risk of death. Almost 300,000 children are born with a form of sickle-cell disease every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa (see Wikipedia).

We are fighting to help these young children through diseases like this - one of the great ways you can join us is to sponsor a child or healthcare worker – or why not arrange a sponsorship as a Christmas gift for someone you love? if so, please e-mail us with their details.

Check out our cheeky blogs just starting...

[Social media for Prism PMA] 

Project mismanagement: what really happens – a guide to screwing up projects in the traditional way, by PM on Soapbox 

The business case

"It’s no good… I can no longer suppress the urge to put into the written word an honest appraisal of the often gaping void between what is prescribed as necessary learning and what actually happens in practice. 

"This comes after many years of developing and delivering training courses related to the management of projects, often (more than not) with a bitten lip. Hence this series of blogs... more

[Social media for Store & Secure self-storage, Bournemouth]

Expansion within our business centre has created three new high-quality serviced offices – and one 135 sq ft office is still available for your business!

Better still, it comes with no fixed-term contract… as flexible as you like.

Store and Secure’s office accommodation is ready to go as a workplace. This brand-new office is built to modern standards and comes complete with fitted carpets, suspending ceilings and power. It is also securely protected by access control and CCTV. You’ll enjoy free use of on-site toilets, kitchen facilities and a main reception area. And it’s available seven-days-a-week.

So, what are you looking for – a cost-effective and highly flexible workspace, or a temporary location from which to run an organisation or business? Get in touch with us to discuss hiring the new serviced office on 01202 520 220, or by e-mail.

Ceramics sheep and guinea pigs at charity sale Dec 6

[social media for JED Art, artist and potter Jan Dowding]

More of the items on offer at my charity ceramics sale this Saturday... sheep and guinea pigs!

The guinea pigs are so cute, children will love them. Very affordable at only £5 each. Each guinea pig has been given its own name by my granddaughter Poppy... which will be your pet?

This Saturday Dec 6, 10am to 4pm, my home. www.jedart.co.uk

Charity ceramics sale

[Photography and social media for JED Art, artist and potter Jan Dowding]

I would like to invite anyone who is interested in my ceramics to my home and studio this Saturday (Dec 6) between 10am and 4pm... to come, view and purchase lovely ceramics gifts.

All profits will go to our son Sam Dowding – who works in the Philippines for charity Palawan Rescue – for his transport needs.

Complimentary tea, coffee and festive biscuits... come and join in!

Prices range from £1 to £30. Each day this week I will post up examples of some of the gifts on offer on facebook... today are tea-light houses and tree vases.

Still making Christmas special for slum kids!

It's the UK's first national #Giving Tuesday and Child of Hope is an official partner. We're continuing our Christmas Appeal to make Christmas special for our 365 slum school pupils with an amazing Christmas party... would you help us?

But first... big thanks to those of you who have donated to this appeal already, your gifts are much appreciated.

So, we aim to give the Child of Hope kids a terrific meal – probably the only one this year with real meat – along with a gift, some clothing and sweets... and lots of fun! This annual event brings a lot of happiness to the children – and they can bring a parent and brother/sister along too.

It all costs around £4 per child (including other family members) – so would you like to join the party by helping fund it? You could donate for yourself, or pay for a friend! Any donations would be helpful, small or large, and we'll e-mail you a ‘Thank You’ card to print out and pop on your mantlepiece!

It's easy to do... simply click on the Make Christmas for a Child button below. This will take you to our online donations page, where you can donate safely via PayPal (with a Paypal account or just your credit/debit card). (If more money is donated than needed for the party, the excess will go into our nutritional programme to help us provide better food each day).

If you would prefer to post a cheque or donate direct from you bank, please click here for details.

Many thanks, and have a great Christmas!

Prism to exhibit at Learning Technologies exhibition, January 28-29, 2015

[Social media for Prism PMA]

We’ll be exhibiting on stand 406 at Learning Technologies, Europe’s leading showcase of organisational learning and the technology used to support learning at work.

With more than 7,000 visitors, 150 free L&D seminars, 250 exhibitors, two exhibition halls packed with the latest learning technologies, innovation and best practice and Europe’s leading L&D conference, it will provide a unique and exciting environment for all those involved in workplace learning. And the show continues to grow in importance and attendance year on year.

In 2015 there will be even more to see and do – and the combination Learning Technologies and Learning and Skills has created the biggest show in the entire learning sector. Stand 406: come and see us there!

A very happy Christmas to all our wonderful friends, we are so grateful for your support.

As always, Child of Hope school is planning a special Christmas party for all its pupils. They will have a great meal – probably the only one this year with real meat – and each receive a gift, some clothing and sweets. Best of all, they get to have fun! It's a terrific event that brings a lot of happiness to the children – and they can bring a parent and brother/sister along too.

It all costs around £4 per child – so would you like to join the party by helping fund it? You could buy it for yourself, or pay for a friend! Any donations would be helpful, small or large, and we'll e-mail you a ‘Thank you’ card to print out and pop on your mantlepiece with all your other Christmas cards!

It's easy to do... simply click on the image above below. This will take you to our online donations page, where you can donate safely via PayPal (with a Paypal account or with your credit/debit card).

If you would prefer to post a cheque or donate direct from you bank, please click here for details.

Many thanks, and have a great Christmas!