LYT Newsletter July 2024
To our incredible team of supporters,
Happy Summer! We have SO much to tell you - it’s our TEN YEAR anniversary, we just gave away over £32,000 and we have a brand new partner for the second half of this year..
TEN YEARS OF LYT!
We have so much to say about this incredible achievement that we’ve written an entire blog post separate to this newsletter. Please take the time to read it at your convenience, we are so very proud to have reached this milestone. The blog shares insight into our current state, includes many updates on our partners, and starts with a short note from Martyn, which I include here:
As fired up as I was when Justine and I dreamed our vision to start our charity ‘Let Yourself Trust’, there was absolutely no way I could have envisaged how much we would all achieve together in these past ten years.
The incredible amount of money donated from the compassion of those who dig deep into the music, as well as their pockets, along with amazing volunteer trips to educate, build and fire our imaginations, goes way beyond anything that I could have hoped for when we set out on this beautiful journey. The huge goodwill and trust shown by our supporters continues to remind me of that greater good that we all seek and believe in. Together with you, and through our wonderful partners, we have been able to bring hope and change to the lives of thousands of people across the globe.
As I take stock of all this I’m both humbled and hungry to see what the next exciting chapters have in store. So here’s to much more my friends, for has there ever been a moment in our lifetime, when true compassion, peace, justice and love were more needed? Onward we go.
In gratitude and solidarity,
Martyn
MEET OUR NEW PARTNER - LAUGHTER AFRICA (Sierra Leone)
Laughter Africa's vision is a world where street children are respected as human beings and given the dignity of a safe, secure place where their basic needs are met and where they can learn to laugh again. They strive to achieve this by working with the street children in the following three-phased approach: Outreach Work, an Interim Care Center, and home tracing and family reunification work. They also carry out advocacy and campaigning work for the rights of street-children in Sierra Leone. In their 9 years of existence, Laughter Africa have worked with over 5,000 street children.
£32,500 IN DONATIONS GIVEN
We’re so thrilled to announce our donations for the first half of this year total over £32,000!
KEHP (Nepal)
To our main partner from January to June, Khiraule Education and Health Project, we are so proud to be able to have donated £17,000!
This will facilitate the build of urgently needed metal bridges over ravines in a very remote sherpa village in Eastern Nepal. This basic infrastructure will benefit the entire community as it will connect neighbours with the school and medical clinic in a safe way that can be crossed even during monsoons.
Additionally, some funding will go to furnishing the new community centre and hostel recently built for teachers and pupils who live at distances which make the daily school trip very difficult, especially in the monsoon season.
We’re so pleased to be able to use your funding in a way that will have immediate, vital impact. We look forward to sending you later updates once the bridges are complete.
In addition to our main partner, we were able to fund 5 Community Development Donations (CDDs) to the following partners:
Just Small Change (Uganda)
Just Small Change is a UK registered charity working in Uganda. They have three projects in the Budaka District of Eastern Uganda which interlink to improve families livelihood, namely a Goat rearing project, a Village Savings & Loan programme and Village Health Teams.
The Village Savings and Loan scheme is a simple but very powerful programme which aims to increase household income and resilience. It helps members to work together, combining their savings to make a viable amount for one member to then borrow, get started in a micro business and then repay with interest. This larger sum is then loaned out to another member and so on.
LYT is proud to have funded 180 women (6 groups of 30) in the Village Savings and Loan scheme with a CDD of £3000.
AHAVA (India)
AHAVA Foundation for Development Services is a registered NGO in the south east Indian state Tamil Nadu providing education support and health/hygiene programmes, parent groups, a sewing school and meals/support to senior citizens as well as other emergency aid and support as needs arise in local villages. AHAVA provide practical, emotional and spiritual support, without any bias of caste, creed or religion.
An extremely grassroots project run by one man, David, and 5 Trustees, their entire yearly budget is approximately £6,000. In dire need to replace decades old computers, new sewing machines, and erect a shed to keep the children out of the rain and sun, they currently only work with school age children though hope to raise funding to extend financial help to students seeking a college education, as well as developing their own website to continue to spread the news about their work.
Let Yourself Trust prides itself on supporting partners with funding that has an immediate impact on the ground. Sometimes this means working with start up projects and watching them grow, or projects so small they don't have the time or personnel to create and maintain a public image as they are simply too busy living the work. Brought to our attention by two longtime supporters of LYT, AHAVA is such a project, and we are very happy to support them with a CDD of £6000 to help them continue their vital work.
Support for Oisterwijk (Netherlands)
Support for Oisterwijk concert lovers with limited means (SPO) is a project of The Oisterwijk Performing Arts Foundation in Oisterwijk, Netherlands where Martyn performed in March 2024. A beautiful venue in an old leather company with a well captured steam machine, they welcome asylum seekers from their local asylum center as well as refugees and unemployed and disabled inhabitants from or around Oisterwijk to their concerts in order to integrate them into the community and get them accepted as a valuable part of their local society.
SPO anonymously donate 10 tickets to each of their 12 concerts in their yearly music series (worth approx €3000). They also invite the artists on their stage to cooperate by visiting their local asylum center and playing some songs during a picnic where their visitors and the (400) local asylum seekers can meet, join and have lunch together.
A beautiful act of grace and support within the music community that Martyn is a part of, we were so moved by their work that we were very happy to offer them a CDD of £1500 to go toward their next year's series. We also hope to have Martyn return to their stage in the very near future!
Palestine Film Festival (Bristol)
30th Nov - 8th Dec, 2024
The Bristol Palestine Film Festival organises an annual festival of films from or about Palestine, or made by Palestinian film-makers and has been running since 2011. The festival is centred in Bristol and the South West of England and includes other art forms such as music, dance, theatre, writing or visual arts.
They are committed to providing an opportunity for moviegoers in the Southwest to experience the lives of Palestinian people through film. By bringing to Bristol Palestinian film, art and culture they invite viewers to explore the multiple realities and identities of the Palestinian people. It is this focus on their humanity and the expression of the everyday lives of Palestinians that is at the core of the mission of this Festival. They also bring to Bristol one Palestinian film director to do intros to the films, take part in Q&As, do some media work and speak to film students.
LYT are delighted to help fund the BPFF in this coming year with a CDD of £3500. Please go see this brilliant event!
Port Men in Sheds (Ellesmere, UK)
Established in 2010 and one of the first Men in Shed projects to be established in the UK, the Port Men in Sheds support men who suffer from isolation, loneliness, are recovering from illness, miss the camaraderie of the work place, are battling mental health issues, bereavement or have additional needs. Their age range is from 18-90, and among woodwork projects for schools, churches. hospitals, hospices, individuals and wildlife areas, they also work with a local high school to provide activities and support for teenagers who struggle in school, have a successful music group who perform at local events, have just introduced a metal shop and a gardening club, provide breakfast 2 days a week and aim to open a lunch club soon.
We love hearing about such meaningful community work, and it's our honour to support them with a modest CDD of £1500 to fund their music and visual arts needs. We look forward to watching them continue to grow!
Are you still with us? We told you we’ve been busy! We are so energised by your incredible support that has allowed us to reach ten years of LYT.. It’s a rallying call of community that you continue to answer and we hope you’re as proud of that as we are.
Let’s see what the next 10 years bring!
Forever in gratitude,
Justine, Martyn and the LYT Team
To help our current partner LAUGHTER AFRICA via a gift of support, please click here or visit our www.LetYourself.net to donate.