Latest / DunkersPodcast / PODCASTHON Special | New Hope, Community and Positive Change

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PODCASTHON Special | New Hope, Community and Positive Change · DunkersPodcast

0:10
A Bob hat bought in cold Welsh water help fund Christmas and a
0:15
future for children in Kenya. Welcome to the Dunker's Podcast
0:20
and today's episode is a little bit special.
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I'm Mark Pedley, known as the Hough down here in Abersoch.
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And the Dunkers Podcast is thrilled to participate in this
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4th edition of Poncastion. For one week, thousands of
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podcasts will highlight a charity of their choice.
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And today I have the pleasure of welcoming New Hope Children's
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Home. Poncastion 26 is a global
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podcast event speaking to charities and good causes across
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the world and we wanted to tell a story that starts in cold
0:56
water but ends somewhere much warmer.
1:00
Back in June 2025 we welcomed today's guest Colin Dalton to
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the Dunkers Podcast. Colin is the UK Champion for New
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Hope Children's Home in Kenya, a charity doing extraordinary work
1:15
through care, education and long term opportunity.
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Since then, something brilliant has happened.
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Our dunkers community created a New Hope Bob hat which raised
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Christmas funds for the children, with one or two
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dunkers providing support to their brand new computer lab.
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And now there's a school uniform appeal about to launch as we go
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into 2026. This episode isn't about charity
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as an idea, it's about charity as a relationship between
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communities, continents and people who may never ever meet
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but who are deeply connected. So grab yourself a brew, wrap up
1:55
warm, and let's dive through the chilly Abasot waters to discover
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what's happening in New Hope. Colin, welcome.
2:03
How have you been keeping? Very well.
2:05
Thanks Mark, and thanks for inviting us back again.
2:07
It's lovely to be here. Well, it was a pleasure having
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you the first time, and this time we've got a New Hope focus.
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Haven't we indeed? Indeed.
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So I hear you've been doing a bit of travelling, not that
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that's a surprise to you, I'm sure.
2:21
We've done a little bit of travelling.
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We've since we went back after the end of the summer from
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Abersoch, we've done a little bit of skiing which has been
2:29
very nice and surely we're heading off to Southeast Asia
2:33
and then after that it's the big trip to Kenya.
2:37
Brilliant. I was going to say, I I hear
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you're off to Kenya again. So this, this Podcantheon 26 is
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serendipitously heaven sent, isn't it?
2:47
Absolutely, yeah. So the last podcast you, you
2:51
were telling me off air before we actually started recording
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that last podcast created quite a or opened quite a few
2:58
different doors for for New Hope.
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Tell, just tell us a bit about that.
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I mean, we love coming to Abasaka and we love the whole
3:06
community here, and the way that people responded to the last
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podcast was amazing. We've had people offering to
3:15
sponsor children, asking how they can get involved, talking
3:20
about doing their own sponsored events to raise money.
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And on top of that, we we did the sale of the bobble hats
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where every single penny that we made from the dunker's bobble
3:34
hats went to New Hope and went for Christmas trees.
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So a whole host of different sort of feelings of community
3:43
and engagement and, and, and just generally outpouring of
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love, I guess would probably be the kindest way of putting it.
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It was, it's just been amazing. It takes your breath away.
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People's response to or sitting and chatting for 40 minutes has
4:00
been amazing. It's amazing what they put in
4:02
the coffee in the morning, isn't it?
4:04
It must be that, yes, I was going to.
4:06
Say that's where our regular coffee and chat start.
4:09
So let's get under the skin of New Hope a little bit more if we
4:13
can, because this, this whole episode is, is about New Hope.
4:17
What is New Hope and and why is? Why is New Hope specifically the
4:23
solution that was needed at that time?
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OK. So if we go, if we start off
4:29
with the wise New Hope needed, it's probably simpler.
4:33
So in Kenya, similar population to the UK, so 5060 million there
4:41
or thereabouts typically there's at any one time there's
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3,000,000 orphans. So the percentage of orphans in
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Kenya is massive. Now, obviously AIDS and HIV had
4:55
a big impact on the whole of Africa, and Kenya didn't escape
4:58
that. So in terms of the driver,
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there's a pure numbers game in terms of the number of children
5:04
without family to raise them and without parents to raise them.
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New Hope was set up, I'm going to say 2002, by Anne and Tyrus
5:16
Chegi in Kenya. It's 40 kilometres north of
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Nairobi, so they do get children from the Nairobi slums and the
5:28
local authorities and the police etcetera will bring children
5:32
that are looking, that need somewhere to live to New Hope.
5:36
There is no provision of social services like we'd expect in the
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UK. So if someone's orphaned in the
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UK, there's somewhere to go. Even if you know it might not be
5:49
quite what we don't want, there is somewhere to go in Kenya.
5:55
You're either with family, with friends or you're out on the
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street and. Anecdotally, you've got there is
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this and for many years there is this perception that if when
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children are orphaned, they literally are just turned out
6:10
onto the street and that's where they survive or don't survive, I
6:13
guess. Yeah, yeah.
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And, and there are lots of private orphanages out there.
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So lots of people have responded to the need.
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So New Hope started as a four bedroom house and at the time it
6:27
only took in girls and initially there was 20 girls living in
6:30
that four bedroom house is. That because girls are more at
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risk. That's a really good question.
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To be honest with you. I don't know whether that was
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the driver. I think Anne started off taking
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in girls because in a four bedroom house with a mixture of
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boys and girls, it could get complicated.
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Yeah. So I think it started off.
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It was only when we managed to expand New Hope to a much bigger
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capacity. Yeah.
6:59
So the old place is still part of the new place, if that makes
7:04
sense. So they built around it and it's
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now typically at any one time can be home to over 120
7:12
children. So yeah, it kind of morphed into
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something much bigger and it's now sort of home to the boys and
7:21
girls. Yeah, to to our listener who is
7:26
not used to the background noise of adverse weather.
7:30
Can I just tell you we're in the middle of a huli here and it
7:33
might get worse, but so we'll, we'll if it does call him, we'll
7:37
just talk louder. Absolutely.
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Did they get? Was the house actually granted
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to them or? The house was gifted originally
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by some local person who gifted them the house.
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We raised enough to build what is now the main building back in
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2007, A-Team of it was 8 to 10 of us did Amsterdam Marathon and
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raised 12,000 lbs, which built the original big orphanage where
8:05
we could really expand the capacity.
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So yeah, it's it's. And since then you've been doing
8:12
lots of marathons and lots of other fundraising.
8:14
You keep the thing, well, growing the thing.
8:16
Yeah. I mean, we've over the years,
8:19
not only have we built it. New Hope, prior to Oakridge
8:23
School and Oakridge School is the school that's now in the
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grounds of New Hope. Prior to that, we built
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classrooms at the local state schools, built toilets, we
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provided water. So we've done a whole raft of
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things across the whole community.
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That includes putting electricity in and sinking a
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borehole so we could get water for the orphanage.
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And so there's some really practical things.
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There's been some, you know, so if it was raining like this in
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Kenya, now there's a mass of water boats, I guess, but
8:57
massive ones. So they harvest all the water
9:01
that they can every time it rains.
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So yeah, there's a, there's a raft of things that we do in
9:09
terms of practical things around water and around the electricity
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supply I guess, as well. And you got involved because?
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I'll just blame Val. I think so.
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Val is the inspiration behind so much of this.
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Val worked with me at Barclays Bank when I worked there and won
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a Chairman's Award for work she'd done in the Northwest
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around, you know, some vulnerable people in the
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Northwest and trying to help them out.
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She went to the Chairman's Award for Barclays in London and when
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she was there she met Anne, who'd won the international
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award for the work she did in Kenya at New Hope.
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Val came back and said we've got to do something.
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These all these kids don't know where the next meal's coming
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from. We need to do something.
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So she turned us all into activists, I guess.
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And, and and ever since. Metaphorically got the T-shirt
10:09
and that's it. You just, yeah, you signed up
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for it, wouldn't it? Weren't you?
10:11
Yeah, we did the marathon and we've done so much stuff since
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then. Been out there five Times Now.
10:17
OK. Yeah, yeah.
10:19
And, you know, going again this summer.
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So it's, yeah, it gets under your skin.
10:25
It's an important part of your life now, isn't?
10:29
It absolutely. Yeah, Yeah.
10:31
So what does a typical day look like for a young person at New
10:36
Hope columns? So I don't know if I know what a
10:40
typical day looks like, but I can say what a day looks like
10:43
when we're there. So we'll stay in the visitors
10:48
accommodation. We'll be lying there and we'll
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hear them at from about 5:00. They'll be singing.
10:55
So the girls will have got up to make breakfast.
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So the kitchen which is next to our room, typically you'll hear
11:02
the singing and the singing is beautiful, but every morning at
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5:00 can be a challenge. They then before Oakridge, they
11:13
would disappear off around about 7:00 because some of them would
11:16
have miles and miles to walk to get to school.
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So they would go to all the schools in the local area.
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Now they're at Oakridge. I'm assuming that because the
11:25
journey's a lot less, maybe the timings are slightly different.
11:31
They then spend all day in school, same as you'd expect in
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the UK. They come home when we're there.
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Quite often we'll have activities organised and that
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could be in the past it's included football matches when
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we've taken lots of youngsters out.
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I'm not sure I'm up to playing football against them anymore.
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But then they'd have like evening shows sometimes we'd put
11:56
music on. So we might have taken speakers
11:58
with us and, and like, our boys would put music on and everyone
12:02
would be just singing and dancing and it'd just be.
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And then we'd go to bed absolutely shattered at about
12:08
9:00. And but if you ever popped your
12:11
head back out in the hall, there'd be loads of them sat
12:14
there doing homework and that would be all the time we were
12:18
there. So the day, in three words is
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probably singing, learning, partying.
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Probably, yeah. I mean, I think the partying's
12:27
probably a little bit of a novelty because you're there,
12:30
because we're there. But they put on such a show and
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such a welcome whenever you're there and they want you to, you
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know, have the best time that you possibly can.
12:41
More of a sort of a searching question here.
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And that is people often worry that that because obviously I
12:47
think the UK is known very much for its charitable approach to
12:52
so many different good causes. But there is a consensus that
12:58
that so many people also or equally worry about where the
13:02
money's going and how is it being tracked?
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And is there a, is there an audit control within New Hope or
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is it that they spend as they spend what they get as soon as
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they get it and just wait for the next reign?
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So if I if, well, if I talk about sort of probably at 3
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levels. So First off we're New Hope
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support Group. Secondly, we channel all our
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money through Hand in Hand, which is a registered UK charity
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who do all the legal requirements.
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And then the third part is obviously how New Hope control
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it and, and and so on. So for New Hope Support Group,
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every single penny we raise ends up at New Hope.
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So we don't have any expenses, we're all volunteers.
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So if you donate 10 pounds, 10 lbs ends up at New Hope, and
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we've always run it like that. Part of the reason we're not a
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registered charity and that we use hand in hand.
13:59
Just about to ask whether you were.
14:01
Yeah. So part of the reason that we do
14:04
that or a big part of the reason is they've already got overheads
14:08
in terms of making sure they satisfy the Charities Commission
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and so on. So it's just a little bit of an
14:16
add on for them, whereas it'd mean we'd have to employ people
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to do all those things if we weren't careful.
14:23
Yeah, yeah. Or find a volunteer who's got an
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awful lot of hours to actually do all that.
14:28
Absolutely. So the first thing is every
14:30
single penny goes to New Hope, OK?
14:32
Good. The second thing, if you look at
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hand in hand, the way that we help with their funding is if
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you make a donation through Just Giving and claim Gift Aid, the
14:44
donation of 10 LB goes to New Hope, the the £2.50 or whatever
14:50
the tax element is back on the Gift Aid that goes to hand in
14:53
hand to help with their running costs.
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So we're always really transparent about that.
14:59
You know if you donate 10 LB and give Gift Aid, the Gift Aid goes
15:03
to hand in hand. Which is really just, it's just
15:05
a sort of an aside, but that's the importance.
15:07
You should always do the Gift Aid whenever you can.
15:09
Absolutely. Absolutely.
15:12
Then in terms of mew hope, you know, if we say that we're going
15:16
to do something big, so recently we built a computer and science
15:22
lab, for example, you can see the computer and science lab.
15:27
We'll see it when we're out there.
15:29
We've seen pictures of it. We've seen the children in the
15:31
science lab. So you can see the physical
15:34
well-being On the flip side of that, say if we're putting lots
15:40
of money in for the education, whether they spend it on new
15:44
exercise books, new uniform, teachers salaries, whatever.
15:49
We're not overly fussy about where they spend it as long as
15:53
the children get the education. So we do know how much they're
15:57
spending. We do have a rough idea where
16:01
they spend it, but they've got to make the absolutely, you
16:04
know, they've got to make the decisions on the ground day in,
16:06
day out as to where they are best spending the money.
16:10
That's great to get the best and that that will be very
16:13
reassuring to anybody who either support New Hope now or will is
16:17
thinking and doing in the future.
16:18
I'm sure So because New Hope is there by the grace of visitors
16:25
and and good open hearts and love.
16:29
What's something that visitors and supporters are usually
16:32
surprised by when they get to see New Hope up and close?
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I think, and I think the thing I hear most commonly and the and
16:45
the thing that probably struck me when I went.
16:49
So let's not, let's not make any bones about it.
16:52
Some of the children there have got horrific stories and, and
16:55
have been through some terrible, terrible experiences in their
16:59
lives. And and we don't need to go into
17:03
sort of what those are. But you know, some of the
17:06
stories I get in terms of children that we're being asked
17:08
to sponsor, we tone them down before we send them out to
17:12
sponsors because we're like flipping X these just, you know,
17:17
the sorts of things that we would just be horrified by.
17:22
But when you get there, it's such a happy place.
17:25
They've got so little and it is such a happy place.
17:29
You kind of you get out of, you know, whatever, however you've
17:32
got up to New Hope, you get out of the vehicle and you're just
17:36
surrounded by happy, smiling faces.
17:38
And for all the time you're there, you permanently, you've
17:42
got children holding your hand, sat on your knee, having
17:45
piggybacks and just, you know, massive, big smiling happy faces
17:51
all the time you're there. And I guess the.
17:53
Visitors, sort of. When they get back in the car
17:55
and go back to the airport, they've gotten a smile from ear
17:58
to ear. They never stop smiling.
18:01
I was going to say for the visitors, sometimes it depends
18:04
on the individual. I found it quite difficult
18:06
leaving a few times just because you know, you know, you've been
18:10
there, you've had a great time and then you're saying goodbye
18:13
some and you don't know when you're next going to be able to
18:15
afford to go again. Because again, we fund all our
18:18
trips out ourselves again, nothing comes out of any money
18:21
raised. It's all individually funded.
18:24
So kind of like, I wonder when we'll be able to afford this
18:27
again. And it does get under your skin
18:29
and you kind of sometimes it's, you know, like you're a bit sad
18:32
to leave somewhere. Yeah.
18:34
Exactly. And and you've got that
18:35
emotional attachment. And why not admit that that's
18:38
that's the same with this as it may be with a two week fancy
18:42
holiday in the Seychelles. Yeah, yeah.
18:45
So there's clearly, I, I mentioned in the overview that
18:50
the community is so very important and there's a real
18:53
community connection. It's even coming through from
18:55
this far on the podcast already. So you came up with this Abasot
19:00
Bob hat idea. Why?
19:05
I guess on many mornings, maybe having the odd cup of tea and
19:11
even a sausage, Butty sat on the beach.
19:13
We talked about wouldn't it be great if there was something
19:17
whereby we could sort of say we're dunkers?
19:21
And we did. Obviously last summer we did all
19:23
sorts of sporting events from the tug of war to the She Ultra
19:28
to the trail run to the triathlon.
19:31
So many dunkers did so many different things and we started
19:34
thinking about do we do some sportswear or something?
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And conversations went on and it was how do we design A logo and
19:42
how do we make sure that we're doing something that everyone
19:44
feels part of. And the bobble hat just felt
19:47
like the easiest idea. It was starting to head towards
19:50
autumn. It was relatively easy to do,
19:53
relatively easy to design. We didn't need a logo, the
19:58
colours kind of spoke for themselves.
20:01
So I kind of just thought let's just go for it.
20:03
And I was kind of hoping that we might sell 50.
20:06
So to sell the many we did, to sell as many as we did was just
20:10
awesome. This is a bit of a rhetorical
20:13
thing. In a way.
20:14
It's because I was going to say, how do you feel when you realise
20:17
that your cold water swimming group in North Wales was part of
20:21
funding Christmas in Kenya? It must have been.
20:25
The pictures and the videos are just amazing.
20:27
And, and yeah, we, we talk about funding Christmas.
20:31
So I think we sent about 720 lbs out on the back of the work we
20:36
did with the Donkers, which was just fantastic.
20:39
So it's £700 that we wouldn't have been able to send.
20:43
And we got Christmas treats for the grannies and the
20:47
grandparents. We got Christmas treats for the
20:49
staff. And when we say Christmas
20:51
treats, this was maize flour, wheat flour, cooking oil, salt,
20:59
and in some instances we even gave some matches out.
21:03
So it's kind of, you know, it's not quite the sort of thing I
21:05
was opening up on Christmas Day, so.
21:09
And and our listener was probably the same, but it's it's
21:12
a very solitary thing to hear. Yeah, so, so we did that.
21:17
And then you talk about the children and the children got
21:21
meat. So they got different types of
21:23
meats. They had beef and chicken and
21:25
sausages, apparently they had some popcorn, which they enjoyed
21:30
hugely. There was some chocolate
21:31
floating around. And then they they kept some of
21:35
the money back to set off fireworks on New Year's Eve,
21:40
right? And it's the first time they've
21:41
ever done it. So Anne, who runs New Hope,
21:45
who's now in the late 70s, first time she'd ever seen fireworks,
21:51
and she was terrified, was she? So she said her and a lot of the
21:55
other older ladies didn't have a cup of tea because they were
22:00
that terrified. They just went back and the
22:02
fireworks had gone off and that was that evening over.
22:06
So, and the impression that that would have made on those kids as
22:10
well as Ann and her colleagues is, yeah, quite awesome.
22:15
If you listen to the video this this squeals of delight from the
22:20
kids as they at least again, it wasn't like a mega firework
22:24
display. It was a few rockets going off
22:26
and a few bangs here and there, but first time they'd ever seen
22:30
them. Absolutely amazing.
22:33
And I guess that the new the New Hope Bob hat became more than
22:38
just a fundraiser, didn't it? In a way it's, it was a tangible
22:42
shared symbol that mattered. And it makes you wonder why
22:49
those shared tangible symbols aren't used more in, in
22:54
fundraising rather than just a sort of a, you know, a caption
22:57
on the end of an advert which has cost 10s of thousands to
23:01
actually to actually put up. What's the next Bob hat then?
23:06
And. I mean, there's a whole host of
23:12
things that we've been that are on our list of things that they
23:16
want us to raise money for if we can do.
23:19
So if we talk about sort of the things we might be raising money
23:25
for and then we can move on to things we're either doing or not
23:28
doing. I think I probably also just
23:30
wanted you talked about community and so on.
23:34
There was a couple of things that sort of as we distributed
23:38
the bobble hats. One was I sent pictures of all
23:42
the dunkers on the beach wearing the bobble hats to Africa.
23:46
I think Anne's a little probably confused as to why we feel the
23:49
need to go in the cold water, but she's seen the pictures and
23:53
she's seen, yeah, absolutely. But she's seen the pictures and,
23:57
and she's, you know, seen that community helping her community.
24:04
The other thing is we're going to take two hats out to Kenya
24:07
with us. So Claire and I bought a couple
24:09
of extra hats to take out to Kenya.
24:12
And they do, absolutely. And they love to wear a bobble
24:15
hat. Doesn't matter how hot it is.
24:19
They love a bobble hat. Really.
24:21
Will be absolutely sweltering and they'll all have bobble hats
24:25
and gloves on. OK, so another shared symbol.
24:28
Absolutely. So the dunker's bobble hat will
24:31
find its way to Kenya. So although community might be
24:35
it's almost feelings, couldn't something the cynics could say
24:38
community could be almost something that's dying over
24:41
here. In some ways, it certainly isn't
24:44
when it comes to Kenya, is it? No.
24:47
And the whole community, if there's anything happening in
24:50
the community, the whole community gets behind it.
24:53
I think, you know, we've been going since 2011 and I've got to
24:58
know a lot of people out there and unfortunately some people
25:02
have passed away in that time. But the whole community comes
25:05
together. So if someone needs money to
25:07
help bury their loved 1, the whole community chips in and
25:11
they'll all do fundraising and they'll all do things to help.
25:15
I see a lot of parallels in terms of the support etcetera
25:23
with the Abasot community. If I'm honest, we feel so
25:27
welcomed here. It's like our second Kenya,
25:29
almost. That's great to hear.
25:31
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it's, I suppose
25:34
we're aware of it, but when you, because we're in the heart of it
25:37
and we haven't got the optics that you've got because you, you
25:40
sort of come in spasmodically forgive me, but you're not here
25:44
every day. So it's great to hear that the
25:47
community spirit is so strong here that that must make a
25:50
difference. Absolutely.
25:52
I mean, yeah, we spent most of last summer here, so I think
25:55
that tells its own story. Doesn't it?
25:57
Yeah. So New Hope generally it, I
26:00
mean, even though it's a, it's a children's home, it's pretty
26:05
progressive one way or another. And it seems, I mean, you
26:09
mentioned a computer lab that's so this computer lab.
26:13
Tell me a bit about it. But, and, and is it going to
26:16
change lives? I mean, is it something because,
26:19
you know, there is a, the cynic in me would say there is a
26:22
certain sort of headline that says, oh, we've got a computer
26:26
lab and you've got 10 screens and 10 desks and they never,
26:30
ever get filled. So, OK, how to respond to that?
26:36
I guess the first thing is the computer lab we feel is going to
26:40
be a game changer. If you look at the number of
26:42
schools in Kenya that currently have computer labs, there's a
26:46
few in Nairobi, but as far as we're aware, not many outside
26:50
Nairobi. So to give the children the
26:55
opportunity to learn how to do basic things on a computer,
26:59
whether that just be Microsoft Office, use Microsoft Word or
27:03
even more complicated things, should hopefully make them more
27:08
employable. And the whole idea of the
27:09
education is to break the cycle of poverty by giving people
27:13
skills that they can use, you know, to get jobs in the future.
27:18
So the whole ethos has always been about let's drive education
27:23
as the way to break the cycle of poverty.
27:26
The computer lab is probably the next step on from that, so we're
27:32
extremely hopeful. At the moment the computer lab
27:35
is built, we're just having the desks made, so it's cheaper to
27:39
have them made bespoke by someone locally than by from a
27:44
shop. So we're just waiting for those
27:46
to be finished. Once those are finished, the
27:48
computers will be bought. All the money's in place to do
27:50
this. So yeah, hopefully by the time
27:55
we're out there, it'll have been up and running a good few months
27:58
and the the kids will be starting to see the benefit of
28:00
it. And this is this has been
28:02
presumably quite a long term. Project is it?
28:04
Yeah, it's probably about we managed to secure a grant from a
28:09
charitable foundation who want to remain anonymous.
28:15
So we managed and that's probably about two years ago
28:17
now. We've had all sorts of
28:20
challenges in terms of getting the building completed and doing
28:23
it within budget etcetera. But the you know the.
28:28
Progress the the lab is really a new build lab, Absolutely.
28:32
It's not a conversion of a an old classroom or an old
28:35
downstairs living. Room.
28:36
We knocked down the the old library and created a science
28:41
lab, a computer lab and a new library.
28:46
And it's, yeah, the pitches we've seen, I've not seen it
28:49
personally yet, but the pitches we've seen are amazing and kind
28:53
of look way out of, you know, kilter with anything we've
28:56
managed to do previously. Yeah, yeah.
28:58
And, and the, the fortunate thing that is that you keep
29:02
winning Grant small, large or whatever, and you've got quite
29:06
a, a sort of a monthly subscription, haven't you as
29:08
well? Yeah, I mean, the main way that
29:11
we raise money would be through the monthly sponsorship.
29:14
So you can sponsor a child for £7.50 a month and that
29:17
guarantees them their education. We've got sponsors for virtually
29:21
every child in New Hope. If the child doesn't have a
29:25
sponsor, we still sort of work out a way of finding the money
29:28
to make sure that they get the education.
29:30
So it's not like, oh, you've not got a sponsor, therefore you're
29:32
not getting any education and wait till we find a sponsor.
29:36
So, you know, every periodically we do appeals to sponsors, but
29:40
we've always got children needing sponsors.
29:42
So it's, you know, an ongoing thing.
29:45
We also get sponsors for grandparents and families and
29:49
that's £10 a month. And that's about providing food
29:53
and basics just so that they can eat and and survive 10.
29:58
Pounds a month will give them that that sustenance for a
30:02
month. Some big, some of the bigger
30:03
families we might have two or three sponsors for, so that
30:06
might be £50 a month but the basic privacy is £10 a month
30:10
will make a big difference and keep them away from, you know.
30:14
Poverty, yeah. Yeah.
30:17
And then we have a teacher sponsorship piece which we've
30:21
tended to aim at schools and businesses.
30:26
It's one of those we I think we're still finding our way on,
30:29
but that's typically around about £1800 a year.
30:32
But that pays the teacher's salary for the year, so which
30:37
makes a big difference. Obviously it.
30:39
Would. And then we do various
30:40
fundraisers throughout the course of the year to fill gaps
30:45
in budgets. And might be that there's a
30:47
special one off that we need to raise money for.
30:51
It might be this, you know, we've done it for medical fees
30:54
in the past when children have got ill and we've had to pay the
30:56
medical fees. We've done it to build New Hope
31:00
as it is. We've done it to build toilets,
31:04
provide water, provide electricity, you know, you name
31:07
it. We've kind of since 2006, we've
31:10
funded it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:12
So because one of the things that was again, we, we just sort
31:16
of talked about off air was about this school uniform
31:20
appeal. And it's, it's sort of resonated
31:23
with me a bit because it went through my head.
31:26
And I was going to ask you, why do you think that uniforms are
31:29
such a critical, but probably often overlooked piece of the
31:33
education puzzle puzzle? I wasn't expecting that
31:39
question. So in terms of the uniforms
31:43
etcetera, in the past we've always taken bits and pieces out
31:49
with us when we've gone out. So that can include jumpers, you
31:53
know, the traditional pinafore dresses, is that what they're
31:55
called? I don't know, Right.
31:57
OK. I don't know why we're having
31:58
this conversation because. You don't get too deep into
32:02
detail. Here, but it's, you know,
32:03
jumpers, T-shirts, trousers, etcetera.
32:06
Clothing that would suffice as a uniform.
32:10
I guess you see the pictures of them at school and they all look
32:14
so smart and they all look so consistent.
32:18
And it's not that they've all got the same uniform on because
32:20
it depends which school we've managed to get the uniform from.
32:23
But you know, you'll have one class that's all in red and
32:25
another class all in black jumpers and and so on.
32:29
But they do look so smart. And I kind of, you know, in
32:32
terms of that environment for learning, they put the school
32:36
uniform on, go to school, even if it's on the same site as them
32:40
now. And I think part of it's about
32:43
setting a mindset. Isn't it?
32:44
It is it's a human connection, isn't it?
32:46
And I think that I know I almost tried to sort of answer my own
32:50
question with this. And I think it's, it's just that
32:53
it's just that ability to, to belong, to be part of and to, to
32:57
sort of be pulling together in the same direction because you,
33:01
you look the same. You, you're out to look after
33:04
other people the same as they're out to look after you.
33:06
And a uniform really underlines that, doesn't it?
33:09
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of, you know, you go back
33:12
to the mindset thing as well. I you know, going when when I
33:16
went to work and I put my suit on to go.
33:18
There's your uniform. Yeah, absolutely.
33:20
Yeah, Yeah. OK.
33:22
So how do that brings us very nicely to the point of saying,
33:26
how do people reach out to New Hope?
33:29
Because there will be listeners who will think, I'm going to
33:33
have a look at this. I want to dig, dig, dive a bit
33:36
deeper into this. And so how do they do it?
33:40
And then how do they get connected and commit them their
33:44
750 or the 10 lbs or whatever a month?
33:48
So in the last day we have launched, Oh wow, we were kind
33:55
of after our last podcast, we did reflect that saying, well,
33:59
just message me. And that's, you know, a great
34:02
way of us progressing wasn't probably the easiest way for
34:05
people to reach out. So we have now got a website.
34:08
Oh, great. It's very functional.
34:11
It tells you a little bit about New Hope, our different
34:14
sponsorship schemes and how to contact us about those.
34:18
If you're interested in reaching out, the website is
34:22
www.newhopesupport which is all one word.
34:28
So NEWHOPSU double POR t.co.uk So New Hope support.co.uk.
34:39
That's brilliant. OK.
34:40
So that's at least what what we've talked about here is a
34:45
range of different things that you're going to come up with.
34:48
I'm not going to, I'm not going to go into the my sort of final
34:52
part of our podcast without asking you for one or two of the
34:55
most bizarre things that we would find bizarre that you're
34:59
raising money for. I think I've got to throw out
35:03
here rabbits. Well, we've, we've had a list of
35:07
requests. So at this point we haven't
35:09
agreed what we're funding this year and exactly what we're
35:13
going to do. If I look at the things that
35:16
they've asked us for, well, last year, let's let's talk about
35:20
last year quickly. Last year we managed to do the
35:23
science lab, the computer lab and we put a bio gas system in
35:28
and we put a new roof on. All the new roofs going on as we
35:32
speak, right? Now I'm just going to interrupt
35:34
and say this isn't anything to do with the monthly.
35:37
Is the 750 or the £10 a month, is it?
35:39
No, no. These are special, the special
35:42
awards effectively. Absolutely.
35:44
Yeah, yeah. Sorry.
35:45
Carry on. Yeah, yeah, No, those will all
35:46
have been funded through additional fundraising
35:49
activities that we've done. If I look at the things that
35:52
we've been asked for this year, we've already mentioned school
35:55
uniform, so they're looking to do something there.
35:59
They want to make some repairs to the main building, so they
36:02
want new flooring throughout, which would cost roughly 10,000
36:06
lbs. They want to paint the whole
36:08
thing. So it's probably about 7-8 years
36:11
since we painted it. And when I say we paint it, you
36:15
know, we provided the funds for someone to paint it.
36:18
They're after smokeless stoves. So they're trying to move away
36:21
to something more environmentally friendly.
36:24
So at the moment, they cook on wood.
36:26
So for their 120 children, they've got a kitchen with wood
36:29
stoves. So they're looking to move away
36:32
from that smokeless ones. And they've also raised the
36:36
prospect of a rabbit project. And I'm not quite sure how to
36:39
feel about this personally, but the idea is if they have a
36:43
rabbit farm, they should be able to give the children more
36:47
protein in their diet. Yeah.
36:51
So. And presumably rabbits are
36:53
fairly straightforward to look after.
36:54
I presume so, yeah. And it.
36:57
Was. I mean, I suppose sort of.
36:59
Cows and sheep aren't really an option.
37:01
Are they? No.
37:02
They have done pigs in the past. Have they?
37:04
Yeah. And that worked reasonably well.
37:08
Not quite sure where they stopped doing it, but there must
37:10
have been a good reason at the time.
37:12
But we have raised money for pigs in the past.
37:14
We did at one point do provide dairy cows to a number of
37:18
people, but that then just damaged the business of the
37:21
local milkman. So that wasn't our greatest.
37:25
Yeah, it's one of those unforeseen.
37:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Impacts which you couldn't
37:31
guess, could you, until it. Until it actually happened and
37:33
then the local milkman wasn't quite pleased with us.
37:37
But but yeah, so. Yeah, there's a, there's a
37:40
number of things that you are challenged to to deliver through
37:45
fundraising if you can and in the and is that a 2627 project
37:49
or it's. Probably a 2026.
37:52
I mean, we're still talking to New Hope about sort of where
37:54
their priorities lie. The other thing that's been
37:57
mentioned is potentially underwear.
38:00
OK, sorry, underwear. Yeah, underwear for 120
38:04
children. Because I'm not quite, I think.
38:07
It's this is a, this is a thing, is it?
38:09
Yeah. OK.
38:10
So we've done it in the past. In the past, we may have taken
38:14
some out with us in our luggage to distribute.
38:19
It's quite difficult to get 120 kids worth of underwear in your
38:22
bag. So we're potentially talking.
38:27
Yeah. So potato, Yeah, not smuggling,
38:30
Mark. OK.
38:33
With the. Grace, with the grace and
38:35
goodness of the customs, you've absolutely.
38:37
It's been allowed in, Yeah. But we've also, yeah, we're,
38:41
we're thinking do we need to fund something there as well?
38:44
Because it's been a good few years since we've we've done
38:46
that and then you can buy them locally as opposed to bring them
38:50
in as well. Sure.
38:51
So it starts to spread some of the money around as well because
38:55
again, it's always better if you can buy something out there
38:58
because then someone else benefits from it as well as New
39:00
Hope. But am I going to sort of try
39:02
and stitch this together, excuse the pun, and say if there is an
39:06
underwear manufacturer out there who's got a real interest in
39:10
working with New Hope, they could provide some samples or
39:15
some product that direct and with their label on?
39:22
I will, I'll, I'll say yes, OK, there's a number.
39:25
As always with these things, there's a number of challenges
39:27
dependent upon how much stuff and all the rest of it.
39:30
How do you get it into the country and containers?
39:34
We've done in the past, but it is a little bit of a lottery
39:37
getting it through customs, right?
39:40
But yeah, yeah, I'd absolutely be open to any conversation and
39:43
then we can work out the practicalities of how we make it
39:45
work. You would need a brief Indeed
39:48
day with me. You can tell this is getting to
39:53
the end. So just just before we sort of
39:59
start to sign off, is there a moment?
40:01
Because for you, I can tell it's your, your, your whole passion
40:06
is, is into New Hope. You're completely and utterly
40:10
bought into this. Is there a moment, a special
40:12
moment, small or ordinary, that still stops you in your tracks
40:17
when you think about New Hope and the and how they work and
40:21
how it matters? I think there's there's probably
40:28
big things and little things. So we've had a number of people
40:32
that were at New Hope for a variety of reasons.
40:36
One's like gone on to be an air Hostess, stewardess, whatever
40:42
the correct phrases these days. Another one's teaching in the
40:47
States. We've got countless doctors and
40:51
nurses and teachers and so you can all those things are
40:55
fantastic because then you see the knock on effect in terms of
40:58
the impact it has on the rest of the family because they're then
41:01
earning, they can buy a plot of land, build a house.
41:04
We've had families move out of the grandparents villages that
41:06
we bought, that we built and move into their own properties,
41:12
which is. Just the real succession.
41:14
Yeah, yeah. So it's that whole.
41:15
Sort of, Yeah, sure. So I was going to say circles
41:19
live but. Well, it is, isn't it?
41:21
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
41:22
So you've kind of got all those things that kind of give you
41:25
that nice warm fuzzy. We're making a difference.
41:29
We're giving people the opportunities and they're
41:31
grabbing those opportunities. It's then little things as well.
41:35
I guess we when when we stop at New Hope, it's in an area called
41:42
Uplands, which is 40 kilometres north of Nairobi and it's near
41:46
to what they call the viewpoint which overlooks the Rift Valley.
41:51
Yeah, Rift Valley, Yeah, Yeah. So you walk up this hill and
41:56
you've got this magnificent view across the Rift Valley.
41:59
So we generally go there and we could take go with some of the
42:02
older children. They'll sort of, you know, make
42:04
sure we know where we're going and that we're looked after.
42:08
And when we get there, we'll buy them all a bottle of Coke or
42:11
Fanta or or something like that from one of the local stores.
42:17
Now we're sort of thinking nothing of it.
42:19
We've drank hours in about two seconds flat because it's hot
42:22
and we're warm and they drink half theirs and keep the rest
42:27
for later. Except when we were walking
42:30
back, we bumped into some of their friends from school and
42:34
they were sharing it with them. So they've got so little, but
42:38
they're happy to share it. And you're kind of like.
42:41
They'll give that over a fizzy drink.
42:44
Absolutely. And we, you know, this massively
42:47
prized. Oh my word, I've got a fizzy
42:49
drink. I'm going to save it, but I'll
42:51
share it with my friend. Just, I don't know, took my
42:55
breath away when I saw it. I was kind of wow and.
43:00
It's, it's, yeah, it's, it's awesome because it's so, it's so
43:05
almost meaningless to us, but it's so meaningful for them,
43:08
isn't it? Absolutely so.
43:10
So my penultimate question to you is, what would you say to
43:14
someone who thinks that their individual contribution is too
43:18
small to make a difference? I'd say First off is whatever
43:27
contribution you're able to make, every single penny of it
43:31
goes. So it's not like we've got ACEO
43:34
that's, you know, got a big salary to be paid before we send
43:37
any money. So that'll probably be the first
43:39
thing I'd say. Second thing is, you know, we
43:42
talk about education at £7.50 a month, so that two coffees,
43:47
yeah, a month. That's that's.
43:49
To me and you, yeah. Respect.
43:51
Yeah. Relative value.
43:54
So, you know, that makes a huge difference.
43:57
So, you know, if you don't go to the coffee shop a couple of
44:00
times each month, you know, whatever you can do makes a huge
44:05
difference. I mean, we've talked about £10 a
44:07
month being enough to keep people away from going hungry.
44:12
It just shows how a small sum of money can go an awful long way.
44:17
We suggest a minimum donation of £7.50 for child sponsorship.
44:21
But if someone wanted to do something less, you know, we're,
44:24
no, we're never going to turn around and say that's not
44:27
enough, you know, because like I say, every penny goes.
44:31
Because if you're breaking the cycle of poverty, the smallest
44:34
amount, the absolutely or two. We'll start that off absolutely.
44:38
Yeah. OK with 2000 charities in this
44:43
Podantheon 26. It's the fourth time that we've
44:48
the the the organisers have organised this.
44:50
This is this is obviously Dunker's podcast first time.
44:54
What makes we we want to we want to stand out.
44:57
We want our Dunker's podcast and New Hope to stand out.
45:03
What would you say it New Hope quietly stands for, over and
45:08
above anything else? So New Hope is, we've talked
45:14
about community at length. I guess for the individuals,
45:19
it's giving them a chance and that's all we're doing is giving
45:23
people a chance to break that cycle of poverty.
45:27
I mean, poverty isn't sort of isolated to small areas or, or
45:34
anything like that. It, it is sort of, you know, all
45:37
over the place. But we're giving one corner of
45:41
Kenya an opportunity to break that cycle.
45:45
Children who've had the, some of the, you know, most horrible
45:49
things happen to them, I've got a chance to break that and break
45:54
out and have an opportunity for a much better life than they
45:58
would have had if we didn't get involved.
46:01
We've educated hundreds and hundreds of children in the
46:04
years I've been involved. So yeah, I, I just say it is
46:12
that opportunity to help break the cycle of poverty and give
46:15
people a chance. And that's all it is, is a
46:17
chance some will grab it. Someone, as the same in any walk
46:22
of life, isn't. Isn't it?
46:23
Yeah. And if knew Hope was going to
46:25
write a letter to Abasot Duncas, I'm going to bring it back
46:28
because Abasot Duncas is the flag here.
46:31
What? What?
46:31
What would they say? What would they say?
46:34
Apart from asking for a bobble hide.
46:38
OK. I, I just think, I mean Anne's
46:41
words when she wrote to me about the fireworks, saying even at 77
46:46
years old, I'm still learning and experiencing new things.
46:49
It's never too old to learn. That kind of resonated with me
46:54
as a really nice sort of thought and ethos and all the rest of
46:58
it. And Anne is, is such, I guess,
47:01
the life and soul of any party, I think.
47:06
What would they say to the dunkers?
47:07
I think they'd be so thrilled and, and, and you've seen some
47:11
of the stuff I've put out some of the charts in terms of I.
47:15
Think most of us just lap it up as soon as you, they or you post
47:19
it. Yeah, yeah, and they'd.
47:24
Just be so appreciative of. What we've done with the
47:27
difference that we. Yeah, I know we've done is
47:29
bought some bobble hats. Isn't it?
47:30
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'd like to say on behalf of
47:34
all the done, because I think we were them with a lot of pride.
47:36
Yeah, which is great. Thank you, Colin, very much.
47:41
Indeed. It was.
47:43
It's really, really important for the Dunkers and more
47:46
importantly for New Hope to to sort of get under the skin of of
47:50
what makes them separate and what makes them different.
47:54
And I think I'd sort of try and wrap this up in, in a way for,
47:59
for our programme and say that if the episode that you just
48:03
listened to resonates as part of the Poncahtian, you don't need
48:07
to do everything. You just need to do 2 things.
48:10
The first is in this early in this year, New Hope launches a
48:15
school uniform appeal. We've talked about that.
48:18
We've talked about the pride and the esteem that the uniform can
48:22
give to kids and they all deserve it and they all need it
48:27
because a uniform means dignity, confidence, and the simple
48:31
ability to show up and learn. And I think that's exactly what
48:35
Colin was saying. And if you have enjoyed the
48:39
podcast, we're on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and look for any
48:45
look for the episode. It's obviously got a New Hope
48:49
Poncastheon in the title or you can go to poncastheon.org.
48:54
That's PODCAST hon.org. Bit of an odd word to to try and
49:01
explain, but you'll find the the links in the show notes.
49:06
So what's my closing reflection having sit here?
49:10
I I was exposed to to New Hope back in June with Colin and
49:15
where are we now? I guess cold water teaches us
49:19
something simple. You don't ease in by yourself,
49:22
you go together. This episode reminds us that
49:25
community doesn't stop at the shoreline and when people show
49:29
up consistently, even small acts can travel a very long way.
49:35
Why does this matter? I guess in a world where big
49:38
campaigns and different distant causes are are right at the
49:43
forefront of our minds, this episode demonstrates how
49:46
everyday communities can meaningfully fully support
49:50
children's futures through connection, creativity, and
49:55
sustained care. Once again, Many thanks Colin,
49:58
really enjoyed talking to you today.
50:01
And from Abasoc to New Hope, thank you for listening and may
50:05
the spirit of the Dunkers go with you.