EdUKaid

Here’s a question.  Is my cousin’s wife my cousin-in-law, my cousin-out-law or just someone my cousin married?  Its questions like these that, despite having access to the internet, I wonder about for days.  For the sake of this blog I shall call her Gemma, for that is her name and she is indeed married to my cousin. 
Well Gemma thinks it’s about time I wrote about something serious rather than prattling on about scanning children through tills, SatanClaus, dubious medical procedures and Fernando Alonso.  She also happened to mention that if I didn’t then she would get her Husband’s Mum, my Aunt, to stop giving me free beer in the pub she owns whenever I pop down to Devon.  Now as I’m visiting on my hols next month, I thought it would be the wise thing to go along with her Machiavellian scheme.

Gemma works for a small grassroots charity called EdUKaid that helps African children get a better quality education.  They work with communities in rural Tanzania to improve the teaching and learning environment through building and upgrading schools, and providing vital educational services, resources and support. They also support individual children to go to school through a child sponsorship programme.  Gemma and my Aunt Joan recently visited Tanzania and the schools are in a terrible state of disrepair.

 

EdUKaid try to help out in the following ways:

• They upgrade schools with basic resources and facilities. (Blackboards, desks &chairs, teacher’s desks and chairs, cupboards, replastering, flooring, walkways, internal and external painting.
• They provide/upgrade toilet facilities.
• They upgrade teacher’s housing (to increase motivation).
• They introduce and deliver pre primary classes (4-6 years).
• They provide support and sponsorship opportunities to the most vulnerable children in southern Tanzania.
• They support local/provide local jobs and training.

 

The things that they really need at the moment are child sponsors – for £15 a month (50p a day) they can cover the costs for uniforms, books, pens etc, exam fees and a bicycle.  I’m not going to start getting all condescending and point out how little you can buy nowadays for 50p, I mean the Daily Mail costs 55p for god’s sake and how much of a waste of money is that?  I’m just going to paraphrase Arrested Development and say “50p means a snack for me, but it means a big deal to you.”

I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, that’s your priest’s job, but here’s a profile of a typical student to hopefully inspire you to help.

Mwanahamisi Isa Tabu is a typical sponsored student currently in secondary school.

Born in 1996, Mwanahamisi Isa used to live with her parents in a small village 20km away from the village of Lwelu. Her mother and father were unemployed and had 6 other children. As they could no longer take care of them all, Mwanahamisi Isa was brought to her aunt (Asha Natime) and uncle (Mohamedi Abdallah Naukola), in Lwelu soon after her 1st birthday.  They have been her guardians ever since.

In Lwelu, Mwanahamisi Isa lives in a small mudhut together with her aunt, uncle and 6 other relatives. Because there are only 4 beds in the house, Mwanahamisi Isa shares a bed with her youngest cousin Amina Isa. Her aunt and uncle are peasants. They grow cassava and maize, and own a coconut palm. During the weekends, Mwanahamisi Isa and her aunt often walk 20 km to collect shellfish from the seaside. Afterwards, they sell them at the local market.

Mwanahamisi Isa is currently attending Mikindani Secondary School as she successfully passed her standard 7 exams last year. When she grows up, she hopes to become a nurse and help her family.

“I feel very happy to get support from EdUKaid and I promise to EdUKaid that I will never let you down.  Because we are very poor, I will make sure that I study hard and my hope is to be a nurse in the future and help my family especially my Grandmother who I live with.  Some people they ask for the help when they are not so poor but I ask for the support because I am very poor.  Therefore I would like to express my thanks to EdUKaid.  My Grandmother did not expect that I would be in Secondary education.”

If you fancy sponsoring a child you can contact EdUKaid at admin@edukaid.com or you could visit their website at http://www.edukaid.com for more information (It’s ok, I wouldn’t take my word for it either).  They have a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/EdUKaidCharity and of course are all twittered up at @edukaid

You hear all these stories about charities wasting their money on champagne for the staff and all that nonsense, but I can assure you that Gemma is a Pint of Bitter and a packet of crisps type of lass (my cousin married up) so there will be none of that going on.

If truth be known, it was my intention to write this piece as a favour for my cousin-in-out-whatever-law and then leave it at that, I’ve done my bit, I’ve helped spread the word haven’t I?  But I will be putting my money where my ever so large mouth is and sponsoring a child myself.  I will also be insisting that Gemma buys me a pint when I see her, it’s only fair right?

Lego Batman 2

Anyone that knows me would readily testify that I’m quite a keen gamer, maybe a bit too keen at times (those times being housework time, going to bed time and doing some DIY time).  So when I was asked if I would like a free copy of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes to review, there was only going to be one possible answer – Yes siree bob.

I patiently waited for it to arrive and I promise I didn’t bug the postman too much (although he may tell you differently) and last Friday my patience was rewarded.  I reverently opened the mysterious black box with the batman emblem on it and the goodies were revealed in all their glory.  I let the kids argue over the other stuff and then informed the wife that I would have to play on the Xbox all day, purely in the name of research. 

I hadn’t played any of the Lego games before, but what they basically do is take a famous film of comic series and then, for want of a better made up word, lego-fy it.  The background, the cars and the people - everything made from Lego and all breakable.  I have to admit they have done a great job of recreating Gotham City; it still looks broody and dark but with the fun twist of it being in the Lego world.  It’s really hard to put into words how much fun can be had in randomly smashing things up and then collecting all the Lego pieces. 

The game is story led in which you take on The Joker and Lex Luthor, but you also have the added bonus of it also being a sandbox game (to the uninitiated this means you have a huge city to roam about and pretty much do what you want).  To start with you have control of Batman and Robin who each have their own strengths and characteristics that have to be used together to get through each level.  As you get further through the game you get to play more of the characters, the best one being Superman with his ability to fly, freeze and cut through things with his heat vision. 

I played through the game on my own, easily switching between the 2 heroes by a quick press of the Y button, but where it really comes into its own is when it’s played by two players.  There was no way my lot were going to let me hog the game, so I soon had to let Kaede (7) and Nate (5) start their own adventure.  Nate isn’t much of a gamer yet and I think he may be a tad too young to really get into the game but I have to admit they both surprised me.  They are not really known for their ability to cooperate and yet this seemed to bring out the best in them.  When Nate got stuck somewhere not only did Kaede patiently talk him through what he should be doing, but if that didn’t work he would quite happily release his controller and let her get him past the obstacle. 

Kaede would cope with most of the problem solving, certain suits do certain things to get you through the levels, but I would normally remain in ear-shot to help them out when needed.  The game has a dynamic split screen, so you can both be in completely different parts of the level without any issue.  It also has an easy drop in/drop out option so when Nate did have enough, he could just leave Kaede playing the game without her having to start again in the traditional manner.

Needless to say the kids love it, I would say they are a quarter of the way through the storyline and they have shown no signs of boredom as of yet.  And as an added bonus, when they are not playing (because it’s my turn obviously), they have renewed their love of building with real Lego.

As for me, I’ve been equally impressed; the sheer scale of the game is immense.  Whilst I’ve completed the main storyline, I don’t think I’m even a third of the way through everything you can do in Gotham City.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but you are most definitely rewarded once you’ve beaten the final boss and instead of putting the game down and moving on to the next one, I’m quite happily exploring and getting into mischief.

The world of Batman is normally quite a gloomy and violent one, but Lego have somehow made it a inherently charming place (I found myself playing with a smile on my face more often than not and some of the banter between Batman and Robin is priceless), whilst still retaining the ominous feel of a Gotham City overrun by bad guys.

Lego Batman 2 is out now on most platforms and in my opinion well worth the purchase whether you have kids or not.

Many thanks to Kayley at Feref for providing me with my free copy of Batman and on that note I’m off to the Batcave to take on The Penguin.

Drifting and Doughnuts

As a blogger of ill-repute, I am occasionally invited to attend sponsored PR events.  Sometimes I come back from these events wondering what on earth I was going to write about.  Other times I would come back needing a hot shower and a cold drink to erase the memories of the limp canapés and warm wine.  But sometimes, not often mind, I come back with the
‘OhMyGodThatWasSoFrickingAwesomeIthinkMyHeadMayExplode’ feeling.  The Fastest Blogger event organised by buyagift.com that I attended last week was one of those events.

Their invite was quite simple, come down to Silverstone and spend a day driving a Caterham 7.  I am not beyond introspection and there is a reason that I only drive a Ford Fiesta – It’s because I’m an idiot.  Put me in a car and I want to drive it fast, hence only trusting myself with a Fiesta on the roads – anything faster would be a disaster (with a ghetto blaster, and a headmaster).  So there was no way I was going to turn down the opportunity to drive one of those beasts.

Upon arrival I met the Caterham team and my fellow bloggers and we were given a safety briefing.  The instructor tended to look at me a lot whilst giving his warnings, I think he could smell the speed-freak in me.  He then explained that they were going to teach us how to drift a car and do doughnuts (you know, the ones policemen don’t like, the tyre smoking ones not the glazed ones).  Drifting a car involves careful manipulation of brake, accelerator and wheel coupled with lots of screeching, smoke and adrenaline soaked fun.

There were three cars and 17 bloggers so in between turns we would sit down and have a bit of a natter.  I had sat myself down with Miss Daisy and her daughter Megan (sorry Wendy, I did warn you) and soaked up the sun in-between bouts of boy-racing.  There was banter, there was laughs and occasionally there was clapping when one of us achieved a spectacular doughnut.

Believe me, there is no better feeling in the world than screeching sideways around a corner with your heart threatening to jump out of chest and not getting nicked for it.  We were a mixed bunch in the driving talent department (the best line I heard was “This is the first car I’ve ever been insured on”) but by the end of the day all of us had improved beyond our wildest expectations.  I had started the day thinking that everyone would get all testosteroney and über-competitive, but there was a real sense of camaraderie as we all cheered each other around the final drifting course.

If you ever find yourself going to one of these events (and I strongly suggest you do), I can’t guarantee you the same weather – scorchio, or the same great laughs with fellow bloggers, but I can guarantee you will have a day you will remember for a very long time.

I want to thank the team at buyagift.com, the perfect place to find fathers day gifts (especially if my kids are reading this).  I’d also like to thank the Caterham 7 team for letting me thrash the nuts out of their cars, even after I thought I had broken one after a spectacular spin off the track.  The only negative thing about the whole day was having to drive my front wheel drive Fiesta home, all in the knowledge that it couldn’t recreate the day in my local Tesco’s car park.  Damn.

Our Greatest Team Rises

BP have recently launched a set of new medallions called the BP Legends Collection – a series of 12 medallions depicting ten British Olympic and two British Paralympic winning moments from past Games.  To help launch this they kindly invited me and the Mrs to the ‘Our Greatest Team Rises’ event at the Royal Albert Hall.  A star spangled event where the Hoi Polloi could mix it up with the bold and the beautiful (well from a distance anyway).

The situation demanded a Tux, something I wasn’t looking forward to.  Most days I can barely be bothered to put on jeans and I even have a special pair of them for ‘formal’ occasions, but several frowns and scowls convinced me to toe the line and tux up.

Before the event we got to meet and have a chat with Sir Steve Redgrave, without doubt our finest ever Olympian and whose face adorns the first medallion.  He happily posed for pics with us all and answered all things Olympic, including a story about all the traffic problems he encountered during the Atlanta Olympics.  As someone living right on top of the Olympic Park, it’s something I hoping isn’t repeated in a few months time.

There was an impressive list of performers at the event: Gary Barlow, Mel C, Will Young, Alfie Boe, The Feeling, Kimberly Walsh, Charlie Siem, The Noisettes and Spellbound (who hilariously sat in front of us after they had performed and instantly started tweeting en masse). We also had the pleasure of Davina McCall, John Bishop and Dermot O’Leary (who when we saw him outside my wife pushed me in the road in her haste to get to him) hosting the evening.  Plus, gasp, William and Cate, yep the real ones, also put in an appearance.

A great night was had by all and was topped off with a dash through Holborn station when the Station Announcer informed us as we got off the Piccadilly line train that “The last central line train will be leaving in two minutes.”  Cue a mad dash of Tux’s, evening gowns and various other late night drunks running through the station in fits of infectious, mad, breathless laughter.

The BP Legends Collection Medallions can be purchased from BP’s forecourts across the country. The first medallion is available for £1 together with an official presentation pack and the remaining 11 medallions will cost £2 each.  All profits from the sale of the Our Greatest Team Legends Collection will directly support Team GB and ParalympicsGB to help aspiring athletes deliver their best performance at London 2012 and beyond.

For more information about the Our Greatest Team Legends Collection and how you can start collecting the limited edition medallions, visit www.bp.com/medallions .

So as not to fall foul of the Blogging Police, this is a sponsored post (if you hadn’t guessed by now).  We attended the event as guests of BP and they even bought me a beer, but just one mind, they didn’t get me drunk and write this for me ok.