Crane Mail is launched (finally!)

After months of promising we're going to launch Crane Mail - the email newsleter from River of Life - we have finally managed to do it! We hope you like the result...

The December 08 Crane Mail contains links to download the latest newsletter, which was published end of November, as well as drawing attention to The Big Give, and our brand new Christmas Gifts Catalogue, which you can download from the website!

River of Life photos on Flickr

We've posted a whole load of photos on Flickr to help you get more of an idea of what's going on at River of Life.

You can view the slideshow by clicking here

There's a set of photos specifically about Babiyire and Josephine, two very malnourished babies that were abandoned at Nazareth Children's Home, an orphanage a mile up the road from River of Life where the White Eagles help out. These images are quite distressing - Babiyire and Josephine were very very thin - but after 4 weeks at Kitovu hospital in the Intensive Feeding ward they were discharged positively plump!

What an amazing trip!

As predicted, it was nigh on impossible to find time to update the blog, even if we had had the internet connection! Our - Rob, Katharine, Christina, Sarah and Sarah - trip to Uganda was absolutely brilliantly awesome! For me (Rob), it was the first time I'd been for 2 years, and it was SO good to see everyone again. I felt proper parental as I proudly saw 'my' kids grown up - there's something immensely powerful about seeing the White Eagles shaking free of everything that has held them back, as they respond to the love and care our wonderful staff give them. Don't get me wrong - it's no bed of roses. You put 27 boys in to the same house, or 7 girls in the same house, you're going to get some fruity moments - the boys being fruitier. But I am absolutely buzzing with excitement with seeing the White Eagle girls and boys blossoming...

I can hardly do the trip justice here - others are far better wordsmiths than me. Some of what we got up to will come through other blog articles as I update progress and news on existing projects, and new ones. But what I probably won't be able to do is fully communicate the real depth of excitement I feel about the work we're doing. I love it! I absolutely love it. There is nothing I'd rather be doing.

Going to Uganda...

In a week, five of us are off to Uganda, including 3 girls who have never been before - Sarah, Sarah and Christina. We hope to keep you updated with what we get up to, but bearing in mind how Tim struggles to get internet access, we might not manage it.

September is school holidays for the White Eagles, so we'll be doing a full programme of activities for the kids for the 2 weeks we're there, as well as reviewing progress on building the boys home, looking at the farm project we have, checking out the new White Eagle Families scheme and all the other amazing things that are going on...

We've been blown away with the response to the bike ride!

Unbelievable! We've had an amazing response to the sponsored bike ride - we've raised nearly £17,000! That's beyond our wildest dreams, and has prompted us to plan to keep going with the next phase - building the retaining wall to hold up the terrace it's all being built on. In the picture you can see the new kitchen and store going up... If you've donated or supported us in any way, thank you so much!



Also, the On-yer-Bike-for-River-of-Life escapade has inspired Damien 'the saddle' Dacey and Tim 'free wheelin' Burbidge down in Bristol to do even more! 60 miles will be nothing to them as they battle 600, yes 600 miles across France to the med! Respec' to them!

Thank you for sponsoring us!

Here's a massive thank you to everyone that sponsored us for the epic Manchester to Blackpool bike ride! It was 60 miles, well 65 for those of us who got a little lost (!), of riding in the most amazing sunshine - not the raining cats and dogs we were expecting at all! Sponsorship is still coming in, and it's not too late to sponsor us online at our Just Giving page.

And of course, a huge thank you to Eddy, Ming, Dan, Mark, Andy, Tim, Sarah, Christina and Rob, our 9 heroic riders! We didn't get off to the best of starts, loosing a peddle, a saddle and one bike only being able to turn right due to a trapped cable, but we all crossed the finish line in the end (even if it was from the opposite direction!)

Cycling to Blackpool? You must be crazy...

Here's the grizz - a team of 8 crazy fools are biking 60 miles from Manchester to Blackpool this sunday 13th July come rain or shine (or hail, thunder, lightening or gale if the last few weeks are anything to go by...) to help raise funds for continuing to build the new boys home - the second and third phases of kitchen, dining room, store, toilets and retaining wall are almost complete, but we need to raise a lot more money to move on to the next phases of washrooms, bedrooms and bed-sit! You can see more info by downloading this PDF which has photos of progress so far...

We've had to have some team changes - Katharine has been badly injured in training this week - she came off in a thunderstorm :( thankfully nothing's broken, but she's not going to be fit to bike 60 miles sadly. 

So with zero preparation, and with only 60 hours to go before the big day, Dan the big man has stepped up to take Katharine's place. He just about knows which end of a bike is which...

And, I'm so excited about this! After keeping it under wraps for weeks, we can also break the extraordinarily exciting news that, all the way from Masaka, Uganda we have the bombastical, the legend, the flippin hero the Rev Timothy R Crow AKA Rabu Ragtoe AKA the Rabumeister AKA simply, Timoth and White Eagle Daddy himself c'mon! c'mon! YES! BRAP!!!

He's flown 4,000 miles back to blighty specially early to join us - there was something about surprising his beautiful girlfriend too, but what dedication! What commitment! 
What he doesn't know is that the bike I've got for him is this one -



And also, I've just noticed over on his blog, he's offered to ride the last mile naked if we raise more than £5,000!!!! On that saddle?!

So please reach deep into your pockets if you can, and help us reach our target! 

You can sponsor us online here at our JustGiving sponsorship page and you can also read more team news on there...