Gift Aid and dandelions ...

Dandelions are persistent garden weeds or charming wild flowers - depends on your point of view. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are money-sucking vampires or a wonderful body of people who devote their lives to supporting small charities like GOES. Again, depends on your point of view! I'll settle for charming wild flowers (then I don't have to waste time pulling them up) and wonderful people who help GOES!
So, sorry for the desert of time unruffled by my blogging ... I'm trying to convert the back garden to a very small wild flower meadow. I did initially suppose that I could leave nature to her own devices and that one morning I would wake up and see a sight of breath-taking beauty. Not so. I'll try to give M.N. a helping hand.
 I knew from past experience that claiming Gift Aid would involve some effort on my part. Oddly, and I know that I'm tempting fate, this time it seems to be going (fingers crossed) fairly well. True, I had lost both my HMRC Identity and password, but I cried for help and both items arrived last week. The GA site opens up, I've managed to download the practice claim sheet. I haven't managed to fill the details in yet, and the form itself looks like gibberish but I'll keep trying. But not any longer today: it's time to watch 'Pointless'  and read the paper.
If you're thinking of helping GOES you might like to buy one or more (there are 7 of them) of the Malinding series of eBooks from Amazon. The first one, Empty Bananas, has been re-written recently. It almost makes sense now ... almost!
Best wishes,
Tom

I should be writing another book ...

... but there's a family of Robins between me and the writing shed and I 
mustn't disturb the babies!

Sorry the picture isn't brilliant but they chased away the window cleaner too!

However, we have managed to do some work: we finally managed to deliver a donation raised by our friend Stuart to the school he's sponsoring in a small village. Usually Bayba works very quickly, same or next day service, but things went wrong this time and it took a couple of weeks to settle things.
Perhaps you remember the baby boy with a suspected cancerous growth of the eye? With the help of #VRWG (Vale Royal Writers Group) we supported the family on their trip to Dakar (Senegal) to have successful treatment and we've just sent them back for another annual check-up. The little boy is fine but we need to make sure.
More money has gone to families to make sure that this year their homes will be water proof - soon be the rainy season.
I mentioned a while ago we were ready to claim GiftAid (return of tax paid on donations) but HMRC didn't recognise last year's passwords? I've just received new ones from them so tomorrow is Gift Aid Day (as soon as I can find the paperwork ...)

The revised, edited, corrected, apologised for version of Empty Bananas, the first in the eBook series about the imaginary Gambian village of Malinding is back on sale. Yes, I'm dropping hints!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AGQZC96 might find it. (I'm not good at this link thingy - there must be an easier way!

Odds and ends and starting a new book ...

I had hoped to have sorted the Gift Aid claim (a scheme enabling charities to reclaim the tax paid on money donated and altogether a jolly good idea) by now but HMRC didn't recognise my passwords and ID so are having to issue new ones (I had to prove that I'm me and GOES is a genuine charity ...)
So, I'm using the time to a) re-publish the properly edited version of the first of the Malinding village series, Empty Bananas. This went well and the chapters now read in the correct order. If I can proof that this is a major revision Amazon will give everybody who has bought the faulty version the new edition. If I can't, I'll put it on free offer and inform everyone via this blog.
 b) I've started a new book, hopefully not so full of faults :-) about one of the characters, Jodie Sonko.
Jodie is a young Anglo-African woman who has to cope with all sorts of difficulties and set-backs. When I've completed the first chapter I'll give a preview here.
 All income from the sale of the books is paid into the GOES account before setting off to The Gambia to help people.



PS - if you haven't yet read Empty Bananas ... it should be safe to do so now!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AGQZC96 

ooops! That was supposed to be a link taking you directly to the book. Drat.
Just Google Amazon then search for Empty Bananas
Fingers crossed!
Tom

Sorry - been a bit busy!

I do apologise for not being in touch for a month!
The re-write of 'Empty Bananas' is complete - the characters no longer change names without warning, Ed no longer returns home while he's still there and I have remembered to say 'thank you' to Adam Vickerstaff for his brilliant cover design. I'll try to persuade Amazon to issue the new version of the ebook to all previous buyers. If that fails I'll put it on free offer for a few days after letting people know here.
 The new book, the one about Jodie, is a few thousand words old and I'm trying to be a little more methodical with her story!
 I'm also trying to be methodical about the Gift Aid claim this year. It used to be a simple task - I'd make a note of all the donations from people who were willing for GOES to collect the income tax they had paid on the money, add it all up, post of the claim and HMRC would send the 25% tax to the Charity account.
 It's all on-line now, coded identities and passwords and downloads and uploads and I'm not given to that way of thought! I much prefer pen and ink and sticking stamps on envelopes and posting letters into a Royal Mail red post box!
 You've guessed, haven't you? Yes, I've mislaid the ID code and the Passwords. I've pleaded with HMRC for assistance and I'm sure the lovely people there will be helpful. Eventually.
 In the meantime I've got a couple of bikes to sell which should swell the funds! The clinic has money for fuel for the ambulance and antibiotics for the store cupboard. I've passed on a donation to the nursery school at Nema Kunku and the teachers at another school have been paid.
 Thanks for your patience - I'll try to post again soon!
Best wishes to all of you
Tom

Being Eighty

This is the blog I may not post.
I've been an octogenarian for 22 days now. I never expected to be one -  'three score years and ten' sounded about right. May be it's 70 + VAT now? Mum made it to 81 and Dad scored 86, and they were both Victorians. Dad emerged into 1888 so lasted quite well for a man of his time. Enough of looking back.
 The birthday cards have been taken down and wait on the dining table to be filed. I'm allowed (by me) to re-read them at meal times. Some of the presents have found their way into ShedYellow, where they will inspire me. Some of the bottles are empty and others have been sampled, re-corked, and put into a safe place. The cakes are gone, but their respected memories live on.
 I had not expected so much love would dwell in the world for a grumpy old man ... perhaps you can see why I have doubts about posting this, erm, post thing?
 I love you all.
PS, the clinic has been restocked and the teachers have been paid ...

Chaos theory?

The village has a new clinic building, larger, brighter and just as busy as the old one. There's an ambulance parked out side and a man to drive it waits for the next call. There's no shortage of patients - this clinic caters for half a dozen small villages - several thousand people rely on its services. The nurse in charge is experienced and there's a young Community Health Midwife who works with her. They have a store cupboard to hold medicines, a maternity ward with ample space for four beds and two autoclaves to sterilise instruments. There's a standpipe in the yard to provide fresh water - and the building has been wired for electricity: good work is done here.
 What's the snag? This is Africa! The ambulance stands idle - without the money to buy fuel.
The store cupboard is empty - well, almost empty - a few Paracetamol tablets left. The maternity ward is occupied by a couple of broken bedsteads. The autoclaves are useless because there's no funding to provide for the installation of electricity. Oh, and the standpipe? The last water bill hasn't been paid so the clinic has had to resort to the well which was abandoned a couple of years ago. This is Africa.
Good work is being done: accidents and emergencies are dealt with, births are aided and the young midwife is busy trying to introduce family planning to the families. Oh, and a volunteer lady comes in to clean and tidy the place - she has a hard job because it's still like a building site.
GOES (that's you people!)  has given the ambulance a full tank of fuel, paid the water bill and arranged for the tap to be locked outside office hours to prevent the water supply being used to wash cars). We've asked for quotes for extending the supply pipe and fitting a tap, sink and soak-away so the supply will be inside the building. We arranged the purchase of antibiotics, and other medical necessities. When we've recovered from that we'll investigate the supply of electricity to the building.
We'll also need to seal the floors, especially in the maternity unit ... and get the beds repaired and ...
We've heard that the nurses have completed a 'Well Woman' survey of the village, and invited to men to attend classes about family planning ...

Two schools.

During the course of our latest trip we were able to visit several schools. Most are doing well, even though several are operating in difficult circumstances. It's great to see the combination of eager student and enthusiastic teachers. We were saddened to see that one school, which had been the pride of its village, struggling. The number of pupils had dropped, the classrooms were in disrepair and the qualified teaching staff had left. There was an air of desperation: basic educational materials - paper, pencils, chalks - were lacking. A couple of rooms were occupied with junk, another had not been repaired following damage from a falling tree. A gardener and a caretaker had been dismissed and the school garden, which had previously provided both food for the children and a small income from the sale of surplus crops in the local market, had fallen into disuse. We provided what help we could but it was beyond our means to fund the repairs and wage bill for the little school. It appeared that the people who had sponsored the school for several years had been unable to continue and the villagers had withdrawn many children and sent them to a new kindergarten a short distance away.
 We made a couple of visits to this new school - what a difference. The head teacher already was in charge of a large lower-basic (Junior) school and had decided to provide the youngest children with fully qualified staff, breakfast every day, medical support if needed and a very happy atmosphere. She funded much of the initial cost of this operation from her own pocket. We made a contribution towards the cost of rice, provided a large number of dictionaries which had been presented to GOES (and for which we had paid Thomas Cook a large sum of money as 'excess baggage'!) The school seemed a truly happy, industrious place of learning.
 I'm haunted by that other, crumbling little school. We had known it in happier days, I had sat in the shade of a tree and taught previous generations of teachers a little more about English language and told stories to youngsters who seemed to enjoy hearing - and helping to make up - tales from two continents.

You could support GOES by buying any or all of the Malinding  series of Kindle ebooks. Who knows, you may be the one who enables an autoclave to sterilise an instrument used in an operation to save a life!