Quest4Change is a winner!

Here at Quest4Change we are thrilled to announce that Heather Rayment, our hard working Charity guru has won a grant from the Vodafone Foundation to work full time for Quest4Change for 2 months at no cost to the Charity. This is brilliant news and will benefit all of our projects in Africa and South America.
This is the first year Vodafone have launched a World of Difference scheme in the UK and over 500 individuals and hundreds of charities, small and large will benefit from the injection of skills that the winners will bring.

Well done Heather. And for all of you eager supporters keep your eyes peeling in January for all the exciting developments this will bring. Chicken week 2010, the Brick by Brick campaign and more fun events to get involved in whilst making a real difference in the communities we work with. Find out how you can get involved here.

It also means that Heather has a second blog which - you can check it out here.

Find out more about the Vodafone World of Difference UK.

Danilo - is fighting the flab!

Anyone wondering how Danilo is getting on in his battle to fight the flab and raise money for the Quest School in Villa Maria, Peru? Well here's the latest video showing how he is working hard, and his friends and family are treating him mean to help him get lean!



If it makes you giggle, support his appeal with a festive donation.

Find out more about the Villa Maria project now. Want to Volunteer in Peru? Find out more here.

Quest4Change fights poverty and environmental destruction in Africa and South America.

A Black Day for Fairtrade?

In Mid January 2010 the first certified Fairtrade Kit Kat will appear on our shelves. The Fairtrade Foundation are hailing it as a huge success, Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, has welcomed the move by the York-based Kit Kat brand, saying

"Cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire struggle under the relentless pressures of poverty with shockingly high levels of illiteracy and poor access to healthcare. The significant volumes of cocoa that go into making Kit Kat will open whole new possibilities for these farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, giving them a more sustainable livelihood and the chance to plan for a better future.”
However the announcement has been dubbed as "Black Monday" by critics, Joe Turner writing on his Civil Society Blog said:

"In the headlong rush to certify everything that moves the Fairtrade Foundation, Britain's self-proclaimed guardian of all things fairtrade, gave Nestlé the ethical pass it so desperately wanted. I shudder to even type the words: The Fairtrade Kit-kat.

Yes, that biscuit coated in the most sickly chocolate has finally burst through the winning tape. But only the four-fingered version, you'll understand.

The two-fingered version can continue being made by children and slaves in the Cote d'Ivorie. Four fingers good, two fingers bad. Though apparently they will also certify the two-fingered version. At some point in the undefined future."

Read more from the Fairtrade Foundation. Read more from Joe Turners Black Monday blog.

What do you think? Is this a Black day for Fairtrade? Or maybe just a Grey day?

I know what I'm going to keep doing, buying Fairtrade from my local co-operative, who have the second biggest range (27) of Fairtrade Chocolate products in the UK (Divine are No 1 and they share the 2nd place with Chocaid.com)

Casa Lar update

2009 has been a tough year for Casa Lar, but the incredible support you all gave to the home during the last appeal has significantly helped to keep it afloat. Presently, Casa Lar has just survived a near close down due to a lack of staff and money for food, medication and basic supplies, in short conditions were unacceptable. The boys were going to be split up and sent to different adult government run care homes. This would have been disastrous for the boys as they are one another's family.

The boys enjoying carnival earlier this year

Thankfully for the boys the dedicated staff at Casa Lar decided that enough is enough and that the boys are going nowhere, and were determined that they should stay at Casa Lar, where they belong. Staff have joined forces with the neighbours, other associates and supporters of the project in Rio and most importantly, some members of the Mangueira´s social project board to make sure this happens.

They are making a final attempt to set up, restructure and run Casa Lar like it is meant to be. The boys deserve us to fight for them to stay at their home!

To lend your support to the boys of Casa Lar click here

Find out more about the project. For information on volunteering click here.

Congratulations Zoe!

Congratulations to Zoe McGivern who donned a Santa suit on Sunday to raise vital funds for Quest4Change.
Zoe spent a year as a volunteer in Villa Maria and said in her own words why she was inspired to do this race:

"I have been lucky enough to see first hand the huge difference any help makes out there. I know it sounds a little cliche, but it is the truth...Every little helps...So if you can please donate what you can. "

Well done Zoe! Click here to donate to Zoe's campaign.

To find out more about our Children's project in Villa Maria please visit Quest4Change.org

International Volunteers Day is nearly here

Volunteers working in Rio at the Casa Lar home for disabled boys

We think it's time to shout about how fantastic volunteers are, and it turns out that we're not alone.

Volunteers building classrooms in Tanzania earlier this year

The International Volunteer Day (IVD) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 17 December 1985. Since then, governments, the UN system and civil society organizations have successfully joined volunteers around the world to celebrate the Day on 5 December.

Volunteers entertaining everyone in Villa Maria with one of their fab shows

IVD offers an opportunity for volunteer organizations and individual volunteers to make visible their contributions - at local, national and international levels - to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Volunteers working with locals building Sand Dams in Kenya this summer

The critical question is, however, what happens on 6 December? Newspapers may turn their attention elsewhere and sound bites may fade away, but the work of volunteers goes on with or without publicity and well-deserved recognition. The spirit of IVD must live on as well.

We would like to thank everyone who has volunteered on a Quest4Change project over the last 13 years. Thank you for all the funds you have raised which have helped buy materials to build schools, sand dams, enclosures, fences, signs and clinics.

Volunteer working with an Ocelot in Bolivia

Thank you for all the hours you have given through hard manual labour and walking pumas, to caring for disabled children. Here's to the next 13 years of grassroots volunteering in Africa and South America with Quest4Change.

Volunteers working hard in Malawi earlier this year

Take December 5th as a day to celebrate all you have achieved.

Questie Santa Run Fun!

Former Questies Kunal Patel and Zoe McGivern will both be donning Santa suits in under two weeks to raise money for Quest4Change.

Kunal was a volunteer back in 2000 on our Children's project in Villa Maria and Zoe was a long term volunteer on the Villa Maria project this year. There must be something in the water out there that makes past volunteers want to dress up as Santa and run around Greenwich park - Whatever it is we thing it's great!

Find out more about getting involved in the Santa Run

Find out more about Volunteering in Villa Maria