charity matters

harrison helps dreams come true for youngsters in

south africa

A 21-year-old student from Plymouth who has already raised thousands of pounds to help deprived children in South Africa has set himself a massive £20,000 target this year.

Harrison Nash, who lives in Mannamead, went on a gap year visit to South Africa in 2007, taking advantage of the opportunity to work at a school and children’s home in Port Elizabeth.

What he experienced so moved him that he has dedicated much of his life since – in between studies – either working as a volunteer in South Africa or raising money for the Protea Primary School and the Maranatha Children’s Home.

Harrison has already raised £6,000 to help the youngsters in Port Elizabeth and last year went through the exhaustive process of setting up a registered charity in the UK to boost his fund-raising efforts

The charity is called Maranatha Care Children and Harrison has set up a website to promote the work in South Africa and to encourage financial support from individuals and organisations in the UK and elsewhere in the world. Harrison organised an official launch for the charity at The Treasury in Plymouth at the end of last year, raising £600 on the night and promoting the charity to more than 80 guests.

Harrison, who is in the second year of a social work degree at Plymouth University, attended Devonport High School for Boys and then spent a year working with his father’s marketing company in London.

“I went to Port Elizabeth for my gap year project and have been back five times since,” he said.

Harrison is spending his Easter break from university in Port Elizabeth, personally funding the trip, as he has done for all his visits. He will be spending the summer months in South Africa as well.

“All the money we raise goes to the work of the school and children’s home in Port Elizabeth,” he added. “The money we have raised has

already helped in so many ways and has made a huge

difference to the lives of these youngsters.”

He said that funds raised had helped towards the cost of an extension at the

harrison (second left) pictured with some of the youngsters who attend the local scout group thanks to the money he has raised

children’s home which meant that four more children could be accommodated and also paid for occupational therapy for the youngsters as well as membership of a Scout group for 15 of the children, which provided a host of weekly activities for them.

His dream this year is to raise £20,000 and he is already well on the way, having raised £3,000 in the first couple of months of the year. “I have been overwhelmed with the support I have already received. A friend is doing a sponsored sky dive for the charity and two others are taking part in a marathon to raise funds.

“It’s amazing how much support people are prepared to give. Now that we have launched the website people can donate online, which will be an important way of raising funds going forward,” he said.

the plymouth magazine 51

Harrison explained that the ethos of the primary school and children’s home is to provide a future for children who have come from an extremely abused or deprived background. The school is called a ‘safe place’ for youngsters who have no family or have been removed from their families because of neglect or abuse.

The children’s home is a ‘cluster foster’ home for children and young people who have been taken into care to provide them with a safe and secure environment.

“Our aim is not only to provide a suitable home environment, but also to safeguard the futures of those in care,” he said. “All children are entitled to grow up in a safe, healthy and nurturing environment. But at Maranatha Care Children we also want to empower children and young people to fulfill their potential.

“We want to safeguard the future of young people in care coming to the end of their secondary schooling. It is about opening doors in allowing education and training to continue, and empowering care leavers to lead healthy and fulfilling independent lifestyles that do not put them back in an environment where they find themselves at risk of the very factors that forced them to flee in the first place.”

There are about 20 children aged from seven to 20 at the Maranatha Children’s Home and a similar number of children aged five to 14 at the Protea Primary School.

Harrison wants to use funds raised by the charity to help towards the cost of providing long term education and job opportunities for the youngsters.

“We want to offer these children the support they need; giving each child the individual attention and love they have not received. We want to open the doors for private education and additional therapy, where these children will see their potential realised. However with a lack of financial support such visions become hard to achieve.

“Our central ethos is long term involvement and looking at empowering and protecting the children and young people through to adulthood and their integration into society and independence, “ he added.

For more information or to make a donation visit www.maranathacarechildren.com

harrison pictured with one of the children Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64