The Sreepur Village is a UK-based charity that has, over the last 31 years, successfully re-integrated more than 900 impoverished mothers and over 3000 vulnerable children back into the community and is still the only charity in Bangladesh to keep destitute children together with their mothers.
Following a visit to a Bangladesh orphanage in 1977, Trisha Silvester, the charity’s Chair of Trustees set up a UK registered charity to support and fund the work of a Canadian charity called FFC (Families for Children) and then in the early 1980’s, Pat Kerr, the current Overseas Director, started voluntary work at FFC while working as a flight attendant for British Airways. In 1989, moved by the plight of the abandoned children and women, Pat and her British Airways colleagues decided to do something to help those in need.
Fast forward 31 years and that something has grown into a loving home, The Sreepur Village, bringing hope for a brighter future to more than 150 mothers and 300 children by providing them with nutritious meals, health care, an education and empowering mothers with the skills that will enable them to independently provide a sustainable future for their families.
Currently living side by side in lock-down, it would be catastrophic if our mothers and children were to catch COVID-19. They team don’t want the Coronavirus to take their hope away so their COVID-19 appeal not only focuses on putting emergency measures in place, it also enables our mothers and children to continue income generating activities and online learning. With donations they will be able to buy basic necessities from thermometers to menstrual hygiene kits as well as larger items like isolation tents which will keep those who may get infected apart from others. They can also provide the mothers, who now work in factories, with a small one-off payment to help their families survive until the factories re-open.
To find out more you can visit:https://www.sreepurvillage.org/