Special Appeal 2010: 58 Days to Remember

By September 2010, Empress Mentewab School will have 60 pupils: 58 poor children plus Kate's own two adopted children.

With the exception of Kate's children, the other pupils' families are poor and rarely receive gifts from anyone, and they never receive parcels through the post. Kate would like every family with a child at Empress Mentewab School to have a day to remember by giving them each a bag full of gifts.

If you are willing to put together and send a bag of gifts to a poor family in Ethiopia to give them a memorable day that they will enjoy reminiscing about for years to come, please follow the instructions below.

Suggested gifts:
  • umbrella - an essential possession in the rainy season (June to September) that can be used as a parasol during the dry season
  • plastic containers - useful for food storage
  • clothes
  • soap, talc, towels
  • toothbrushes and toothpaste
  • nail-clippers
  • apron and tea-towels
  • picture posters and world map
  • wind-up torch
  • sweets and nuts
  • school bag, toys cars, doll (dolls with long hair are particularly popular as girls love to plait the hair in the traditional Ethiopian styles), football, simple card games (Snap, Happy Families), picture books and simple story books in English, crayons, balloons, plastic animals, deodorant sticks
  • woollen scarf or shawl, hat, bed-socks, blanket (it can be very chilly at night in the Ethiopian Highlands)
Protect delicate gifts with bubble-wrap and put them inside plastic containers. Place the gifts in a lightweight, plastic, zip-up shopping or storage bag (it will act as wrapping during transit as well as being useful to the recipient) and secure the end of the zip by tying or sewing it tightly with string or wool. Label the bag using adhesive labels and labels tied to the handles. (In the past donors have sent clothes and toys using zip-up bags and they have always arrived intact.) Without wrapping it in anything else, post the bag to:

Mrs Kate Fereday Eshete
Empress Mentewab School
PO Box 10
Debark
Simien Mountains
Ethiopia

IMPORTANT! On the labels please indicate FAMILY. This is essential as Kate will not open the bag, but simply pass it on to the family of a pupil at the school.
  • Please do not send very expensive gifts.
  • Please do not put your name and address inside the bag, but do include sender's details on the outside of the bag (or on the label attached to one handle of the bag) so that safe receipt of the bag can be acknowledged - these details will be removed from the bag before it is given to the beneficiary.
Kate will acknowledge receipt of each bag of gifts and provide the donor with a photograph of the family receiving the bag.

Thank you for giving some of the poorest people on Earth a day to remember.