Who you help
Here are just a few of the people whose lives have been transformed thanks to Red Nose Day and the cash you raise.
Sunday misses her father with all her heart. He was killed by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army when she was just five years old. The family realised something was wrong when the dogs came home one day without him – a few days later, Sunday’s uncle searched for his brother and found his body.
Sometimes when I think about my dad, I cry. I think about how he could have been the person to guide me and look out for me.
After losing so much to the conflict in Northern Uganda, Sunday is determined that her education won’t be another casualty. Funded by Comic Relief, War Child is helping Sunday to kick-start her education by providing her with books, uniforms, a school bag, pens and a mathematical set – all the tools she needs to be able to go to school for two years running.
And for Sunday, school isn't just a place that can help her secure a better future, it's also a place where she can be carefree and enjoy ordinary childhood pursuits free from the shadows of war.
The happiest day was when I got my uniform, exercise books, and pens … These are things we could not afford and by having them it meant I could go to school.
Getting an education is Sunday’s best chance of escaping the grinding poverty she faces. Thanks to you, she can now look forward to a much brighter future.
While Rukia, 20, waits to be discharged, she lies on the hospital bed surveying her tiny newborns . It could so easily have been a very different story.
The stark truth is, it’s a marvel Rukia and her triplets survived at all. For many years the clinics and hospitals in the remote Rufiji district of Tanzania were desperately under resourced, contributing to one in ten children dying before their fifth birthday.
But with support from Ifakara Health Institute, a pioneering project funded by Comic Relief, mums and babies finally have access to proper medical care, and the number of infant deaths has dropped significantly.
I used to see a lot of women and newborns die
explains Gloria, an experienced nurse and midwife.
There was a lack of medicines, trained workers and electricity.
Delivering a baby at night is described as 'unsimple' work by Gloria. Often, as the only staff member on duty, she would have to borrow a kerosene lamp from the night watchman and ask a patient to hold it while she worked.
Now, thanks to Comic Relief cash, the hospital has solar powered electricity and a brand new, fully-equipped labour ward and theatre, so Gloria can get on with the delicate job at hand.
Rukia’s husband arrives to collect her and the triplets who doze peacefully, swaddled in brightly coloured cloth. Small but safely delivered and with their mum in good health, they now have, thanks to you, a fighting chance at life.
Three years ago, Ian returned from work to find his wife Julie collapsed in agony. At only 39 years old, Julie was diagnosed with a viciously aggressive form of cancer and within a week, she tragically died.
After twenty years of marriage, Ian was left alone to raise their three children, Selina, 4, Lee, 13 and Rebecca, 15. He struggled to hold down his job and give his children the practical and emotional support they so desperately needed.
Despite his own heartbreak, Ian has always been determined to put his kids first.
My youngest Selina still cries because she misses her mum. It can be hard, but I tell her how much she was loved.
Thankfully, Comic Relief cash helped to support Ian and Selina through a special funded project - The POPS Breakfast and After-School Club. With their help, Ian has been able to stay in his full-time job knowing his daughter is well looked after while he is at work. Ian says:
There's never been a day when Selina hasn't been happy there. It’s taken a lot of pressure off me because I know she is safe and enjoying herself.
For Selina, the support her project worker, Rachel, gives her means a lot,
Rachel is very kind. She does lots of fun stuff with us and when we're down she talks to us about our feelings, you can count on her.
Your cash can help many families across the UK who struggle with all kinds of problems – from bereavement to poverty and lots more. With a helping hand, they can begin to rebuild their lives.
Beneath her tender shyness, sixteen-year-old Chepngetich has a brightness and strength that has helped her battle through the darkest of days.
Born with cataracts in both eyes, Chepngetich or Chep, had only ever seen the world as a cloud of indistinct shapes and obstacles.
Chep saw her blindness merely as one more worry for her already struggling family.
I was a burden, rather than a help.
Alongside the hardships at home, once through the school gates things were seldom easier for Chep.
I couldn’t play with the other children because I would fall down or miss the ball. They would laugh at me. Eventually I just stopped playing.
It was only when teacher Edna began to teach Chep that she found the life-changing help she needed. Edna took her student to the Sightsavers project where, with a simple cataract operation, Chep was able to see the world in sharp focus for the first time in her life. Through Comic Relief you'll help to provide many children, just like Chep, with life-changing procedures like this.
When the bandages came off, I simply gasped.
I could see the other girls in the ward, I could see the trees outside, I could see everything. When they drove me home, I saw my mum and dad, brothers and sisters clearly for the first time in my life. My dad gave me a big hug and I cried.
At school, life improved dramatically.
I began to play with the other children. I could run without fear of falling. I even joined the running club and entered a competition.
When fifteen year old Will hit his teenage years, he started to find life at school a struggle. With few friends to turn to for support, he felt isolated and spent more and more time on his own.
With his confidence at rock bottom, Will would do anything to fade into the background. In fact, he could barely look people in the eye.
Even at home he would shut himself away and, as time went on, his depression became more and more severe.
His mother, Julie, was extremely worried about her son and searched for a way to help. Thankfully, she was told about Mindzone, a therapeutic drop-in service for young people with mental health problems, funded by Comic Relief.
When Will first walked through the doors at Mindzone, he was a shy, nervous and introverted teenager. But after one-to-one counselling he started to attend the group activity sessions and soon came out of his shell.
As his confidence began to grow, he gradually realised that the other young people at the project were facing similar problems and he wasn’t alone.
Will’s world has changed immeasurably thanks to the support he’s received at the project. And he’s now on the road to recovery. In fact, he’s even stepped into the limelight and joined a local band – something he never thought he could do.
Richard describes himself as a peasant farmer, but he’s much more than that. When a child has severe malaria and is too far away from the hospital to make it there alive, Richard is the person his neighbours will turn to.
Thanks to the money you raised, Richard is one of many volunteers now receiving the training and malaria drugs needed to help save the lives of vulnerable children in rural districts.
If anyone has a sick child, they can come to me and I can help now.
Richard knows all too well what it’s like when you simply have too little, too late. A few months ago a neighbour turned to Richard for assistance – arriving at his home carrying a semi-conscious child.
At this time, with no drugs or training and unsure of what to do, Richard put the child and father on his motorbike and drove them to the regional hospital. When a doctor was finally reached though, the horrifying truth was revealed. The child had passed away on arrival.
This was a beautiful, healthy child that I had seen growing up in my village. It should never have happened.
Richard now has the training needed to recognise malaria symptoms, and the emergency drugs required to help prolong a child’s life long enough to get to hospital. Thanks to you, this rural farmer is now equipped to help save lives of very sick children.
I am trusted by my community. I can make a difference.
Pay In Your Fundraising Money
It's easy to pay in the Red Nose Day money you've so brilliantly raised. And the sooner you do, the sooner it can start to change lives.
Where Your Money Goes
All the Red Nose Day money you raise is spent on a wide range of projects that help those most in need both here in the UK and across Africa.
What Your Cash Can Do
£45
£45 could pay for a child in war-affected Uganda to go to primary school for a whole year, giving them a chance at a brighter future, free from poverty.
£182
£182 could pay for a maternity nurse in Tanzania to attend a seven day training course on child delivery care to ensure the safety and health of many mothers and their babies.
£50
£50 could enable a specialist worker to run an after-school play scheme for a week so that children from disadvantaged or low income families in the UK have somewhere safe to go while their parents work.
£75
£75 could restore the sight of a child in Kenya by paying for the general anaesthetic and specialist medical expertise needed to perform an operation that removes their cataracts.
£100
£100 could pay to train a youth worker in how to support a young person affected by mental health problems, so they can build a happier future.
£120
£120 could enable four volunteers, living in remote villages in Uganda, to get the training they need to give life-saving medical help to children with malaria.