Life can be, and is often, challenging. It can be heartbreaking. It can be unfair.
The track "Blue" from our EP BLUE NOTES is a message of hope and trust - even when life is blue, hold on to hope and find reassurance in the knowledge that daylight follows each night.
As our way of helping to raise awareness, and contribute to fundraising for organisations who are working to help children and adults in need of assistance and hope, we are donating 30% of all online sales of the song "Blue" to two very special charities - We are focusing on the Australian INDIGENOUS LITERACY FOUNDATION and the UK-based STEPPING STONES NIGERIA.
Please take the time to read about these two organisations, and use the links on this page to visit their official websites.
Indigenous Literacy Foundation
Some kids living in the remotest parts of Australia are able to communicate in up to five languages by the time they reach school.
Often, however, they will have little to no experience in reading or writing standard Australian English, and their literacy levels will be severely disadvantaged right throughout their lives.
Using a three-way approach to building literacy, each poject aims to promote Cultural Literacy - connecting people, particularly young people, to their culture and traditional language, Practical Literacy - developing the skills needed for daily activities, and English Literacy - promoting skills in English reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Since it began five years ago, THE INDIGENOUS LITERACY FOUNDATION has grown from supplying books to three communities near Katherine in the Northern Territory to over 200 communities Australia-wide.
Its team of ambassadors travel to remote communities to conduct storytelling workshops with kids as young as six and seven, and in the past 12 months, over 35,000 books have gone to over 200 remote communities to schools, preschools and playgroups, outreach centres, women's groups and geriatric homes.
The supply of books was the first initiative in helping address literacy problems, and their work continues. For more information, details of current projects and events and links to make a donation, go to their website.
Stepping Stones Nigeria
Stepping Stones Nigeria’s (SSN) work saves, protects and transforms the lives of thousands of vulnerable and disadvantaged children. They are a small and effective charity that works from a child-rights approach and are doing everything in their power to ensure that children in the Niger Delta get a proper education, healthcare, food and protection.
The key issues SSN focus on are: Child Rights, Education and Literacy, Child Witches and Trafficking.
An increasing number of children in the Niger Delta are being forced to the streets and trafficked as a result of a deeply held belief in child ‘witches’ and also due to persistent violent conflicts, poverty, abuse, torture, rape, or being orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
The deeply held belief in and fear of child witchcraft cuts across all tiers of society. The suspected witches are abandoned, isolated, discriminated, ostracised from the community, taken to the forest and slaughtered, disgraced publicly and murdered, bathed in acid, poisoned to death, buried alive, chained and tortured in churches in order to extract confession.
The Stepping Stones Nigeria website provides detailed information on all aspects of their work, and the various ways you can help, or make a simple donation.
www.steppingstonesnigeria.org