A Chance at Childhood

What were you doing when you were 11? If I had to hazard a guess, I would say you were probably going off to school in the mornings, maybe playing football or going to a club in the afternoon, having dinner with your family in evenings before unwinding from the day and crawling into bed.

Do you remember what you were like when you were 5? Maybe you were a bright eyed little kid with a million dreams and unstoppable energy or perhaps you were a shy little thing with a dinosaur obsession and a steady hand for colouring inside the lines.

You were a child, you were doing things that children do and embracing your youth but not every child has the opportunity to do this.

Give these Forgotten Children a Brighter Future

It sounds absurd that not every child gets the chance to be a child, but the homeless youth in Pakistan, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Senegal are forced to grow up well before their time. They’ve been forgotten by society, left to their own devices to survive by going out and begging for food or money, squatting anywhere they can for shelter, and going without education or healthcare.

These children have to grow up in dismal conditions, fighting for their lives on a daily basis and not only from the harshness of their environment, but from the people that would use their hopeless situation to exploit them. Children do not deserve to be hardened by the world at such a young age, they deserve better and we can give them better.

RESCUE A CHILD

Child Poverty Facts

Some of you may be asking, what struggles do they face and exactly what is child poverty? Below are some child poverty facts to give you an insight into their plight:

• 2 million children die from diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia, and other curable diseases every year because they can’t afford proper medical treatment.
• Around 2,000 children die from diseases linked to unsafe drinking water and the absence of basic sanitation.
• Over 100 million children under age 5 are malnourished and emaciated.
• 2 million impoverished children from ages 10 to 19 suffer from HIV.
• 57 million children around the world are not in school.
• Hundreds of thousands of street children are sexually, physically and mentally exploited world-wide. 

These children are fighting for their lives, and we should be too. You have the opportunity to be an advocate for these impoverished youths and be a defender of their rights; act on it so they can act like kids again.

Forgotten Children Appeal

Our Forgotten Children appeal is giving a voice to the silent crisis of child poverty and homelessness. Our specially trained Outreach workers work closely with the children, gaining their trust and founding friendships with the kids in order to get them off the streets and find them a safe space.

Penny Appeal’s Rescue Centres provide food, clothing, counselling, medical treatment and schooling to give these homeless teens and youths fresh starts and better chances. We continue to care for these children by organising permanent guardians for them and where possible, reuniting them with their families. They deserve a childhood and you can help bring that to them.

For only £14 a month you can help rescue a child from the streets of Lebanon, Pakistan or Morocco. By donating £20 each month, a child is saved from the streets and given an education that will open up a world of possibilities.

HELP CHILDREN

Penny Appeal is working in Pakistan helping street children in Lahore gain official registration, issuing them birth certificates and providing them with educational foundations.

After a year of success, we reached 153 children from 3 different communities in Punjab, and thanks to your support we are able to continue to deliver basic health and education services, Child Protection Awareness sessions, birth registration, and exposure visits to even more communities throughout the area.

In Lebanon, we are working on providing informal education to children, offering support for their parents, and circulating healthy meals and hygiene packs. 30 children have benefitted from this program, so far, being given the support they needed and the education they deserved.

Many of the Lebanese children we worked with were illiterate before this project and now they are able to partake in a variety of classes such as Maths, English, Arabic, Hygiene Awareness, and Sports. We also provide the children with psychosocial support and an assortment of fun activities!

These children have been given the opportunity to grow and flourish; they’ve gotten their childhood back. 

If you donate £4,000, you will be able to support one of these rescue centres, laying the foundation for education and creating a safe environment for even more children.

SUPPORT A RESCUE CENTRE

Our latest project is an outreach service for the homeless children in Morocco. These children are in extremely vulnerable situations and need help immediately to get off the streets and into safe and appropriate care.

Every orphan deserves a family; this is your chance to give them one!

Penny Appeal is working to get these children out of harm’s way and finding them the best possible long-term care. We reunite these street children with their families where possible, and find loving foster care families when it isn’t. We provide support for emotional, social, physical and psychological difficulties throughout this process.

One 11-year-old Syrian girl shared with us the positive change we made in her life, “I have always been really envious of my neighbours because I see them carrying backpacks every morning and going to school. But now I can show them that I go to school too!”

What were you doing when you were 11?

Let’s give these kids the same opportunities, let’s give them a childhood.

Donate today to Forgotten Children and let kids be kids.

DONATE NOW