1moreChild Update – July 2023

19th July 2023 – 1moreChild Founder Harry Ferdinando provides an update on 1moreChild.

Overall 1moreChild is back on its feet after a challenging couple of years.

The Pandemic was hard financially which meant we had to reduce costs in all areas.  The children have not been on any holiday camps for the past three years which have previously provided valuable character building and life experiences. Non-essential food like milk, eggs and meat have been reduced.

Almost everything we spend money on has dramatically risen, including school fees, stationary, shoes and food. For example our two main staple food are beans and posho (ground maize meal) which have risen by 26% and 20% in the past five months alone. We have increased wages by 13% and need to do another hike before the end of the year.

Financially our total expenditure has risen over the past three years and is set to rise further in 2023.

2020  £124,000 (596M)

2021  £135,000 (646M)

2022  £180,000 (866M)

Our income dropped significantly during the Pandemic, eliminating all reserves but thankfully last year has risen dramatically largely due to the introduction of the Founders ride and significant increase raised during the Pioneers ride.

Dec 2020 income of £136k

Dec 2021 income of £67K

Dec 2022 income of £223k

Projected income for 2023 £290k

During the pandemic we lost some children due to pregnancy and other hardships.  We now have a total of 163 children (65 Primary, 93 Secondary and 5 Tertiary).

We currently have 18 children in their final ‘O’ Level year and hope they do well enough to progress to ‘A’ Levels.

We currently have five students in further education which are all funded through private donors.  This is an exciting area of progress for us to see former street children reaching this level.  We have two girls studying nursing and midwifery, one boy studying medicine, another doing agriculture with business and another studying mechanics.

The increased income comes at the right time as typically the older the children the more expensive the teaching.  We have a growing population at the end of school that have the ability go into secondary education. The increased fundraising enables 1moreChild to help more children as they leave school.

On the back of the massively successful auction during the recent Pioneers Leg 10 we have been able to resurrect our ailing Cycling Club.  Andy Helme is going to oversee the separate budget which will enable the repair and maintenance of around 15 bikes which will mean we can continue to offer all the children the opportunity to learn to ride a bike and then join longer rides as they progress.  The new budget will also help our more gifted and determined cyclists through the upkeep of our turbo trainers, entry into local and national cycling events and hopefully helping them become our new group of elite riders.

After years of limited travel it is exciting to have a few visitors this year who will be able to bring out valuable resources like laptops and bike parts.  They will also be doing some exciting training with the hope of helping a number of our children in IT and online tutoring.

1moreChild Cycle Club Update by Andy Helme

Mary Aleper is riding professionally for Team Amani on the African and European Gravel Racing circuit and will be heading to the World Championships (again) later this year.

Paul Lomuria is continuing to train in Kenya in conjunction with the Team Ineos academy. Having won the Kenyan Race Series in 2022 he has been having trials with development teams in Europe whilst racing full time.

Lawrence Lorot is also at the Academy in Kenya and is being sponsored by Ineos. He won silver at the 2023 African Nations Championships in the Junior Individual Time Trial.

The Cycling Club at 1mC is being built back up after a difficult time through Covid, and the focus now is upon building a strong base of cycling skills for all students; whilst trying to increase the number and quality of bikes available for all ability levels.

Also hot off the press Lawrence has just received his British visa so he can come to the World Championships in Glasgow later this summer.