From small beginnings...
In November 2011 (my first month of trading), I supported Freedom from Fistula, a charity which works with women in Africa who suffer an obstructed labour leaving them incontinent and shunned from their communities leading a life of shame and despair. You can read more about Freedom from Fistula on the official website.
In 2012, I began to sponsor a child through school at Silverstone Academy, Watamu (Kenya). You can read more about Silverstone academy at http://www.silverstoneschoolwatamu.com/ .
24th March 2013 Update:
I am delighted as of today to be sponsoring an additional Kenyan child. Nancy is 7 years old (in fact her birthday was a couple of days ago!). She attends nursery in the village of Meru (rural Kenya), and is learning her alphabet according to our latest update.
I am very grateful to all our customers. It seems that The Pink Gecko may be a sustainable business, and thus I have now been able to commit to sponsoring two Kenyan children.
July 2013 Update:
I have received a letter updating me on Nancy's progress. Amongst other news, I am told that she has neat handwriting and is reading fluently; she is going to a new school, taking the bus each day, and making friends.
December 2013.
I was thrilled to receive this Christmas message from Nancy. Thank you again to you all for your support - messages like this for the children we sponsor are inspiring to say the least.
August 2014.
I have started to support entrepreneurs in Africa via the lendwithcare organisation... it is early days but things seem to be going well. I will provide an update as soon as I can!
July 2015.
I have received more news of Nancy - she is aged nine now and the letter details how she is getting on at school. Here is the letter - click on it to read!
UPDATE. ...As of December 2015, The Pink Gecko and Friends Lendwithcare group has lent over £350, supporting over 90 African entrepreneurs.
Would you like to know more?
You can see how Lendwithcare works by watching the 2 min film here:https://www.lendwithcare.org/info/how_it_works
By making a few loans over several months and then re-lending the repayments as they come in, members of the Pink Gecko and Friends team (there are only 4 of us!) have lent to over 90 entrepreneurs over the last year or so, not one of whom has defaulted on the loan.
Please do join us - if you would like to know more, please get in touch!
(And, if you do choose to join lendwithcare, then do also join the Pink Gecko and Friends team, if you would like to!)
UPDATE...August 2017
Since the last update, we have continued with our regular donations of course, and what is more, our Lendwithcare team continues to be active - we have now lent £795, and supported over 180 African entrepreneurs!
UPDATE...December 2018
Since the last update, we have continued with our regular donations of course, and what is more, our Lendwithcare team continues to be active - we have now lent over £1100, and supported over 300 African entrepreneurs!
Of course, our most important remit is to continue with our core business of supplying high quality kikoys and kikoy towels to our customers at reasonable prices - thus providing regular and sustainable business to our suppliers. Thank you to all of our customers for your support in enabling us to do this since December 2011!
If you would like to know more about sponsoring children in Kenya or about Lendwithcare, do contact us. Obviously I have done some careful research and I would be very happy to share this with you.
I have received more news of Nancy - she is aged nine now and the letter details how she is getting on at school. Here is the letter - click on it to read!
UPDATE. ...As of December 2015, The Pink Gecko and Friends Lendwithcare group has lent over £350, supporting over 90 African entrepreneurs.
Would you like to know more?
You can see how Lendwithcare works by watching the 2 min film here:https://www.lendwithcare.org/info/how_it_works
By making a few loans over several months and then re-lending the repayments as they come in, members of the Pink Gecko and Friends team (there are only 4 of us!) have lent to over 90 entrepreneurs over the last year or so, not one of whom has defaulted on the loan.
Please do join us - if you would like to know more, please get in touch!
(And, if you do choose to join lendwithcare, then do also join the Pink Gecko and Friends team, if you would like to!)
UPDATE...August 2017
Since the last update, we have continued with our regular donations of course, and what is more, our Lendwithcare team continues to be active - we have now lent £795, and supported over 180 African entrepreneurs!
UPDATE...December 2018
Since the last update, we have continued with our regular donations of course, and what is more, our Lendwithcare team continues to be active - we have now lent over £1100, and supported over 300 African entrepreneurs!
Of course, our most important remit is to continue with our core business of supplying high quality kikoys and kikoy towels to our customers at reasonable prices - thus providing regular and sustainable business to our suppliers. Thank you to all of our customers for your support in enabling us to do this since December 2011!
If you would like to know more about sponsoring children in Kenya or about Lendwithcare, do contact us. Obviously I have done some careful research and I would be very happy to share this with you.