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Charity Challenge Competition

Charity Challenge is a competition for Year 12 students on the Isle of Man to take part in and represent a charity of their choice which they think deserves the help of the Overseas Aid Committee’s sponsorship. It gives the students the opportunity to work as a group to do research and present a charity which they want to have sponsored.

King William’s College had three teams in the initial in-house competition, in which they were competing against each other in order to send one team to the inter schools final in which there was £22,000 to be awarded. The charities which were being supported by the  teams were: Azafany and Max Landmine Action. The two teams which did not get through to the finals were still awarded £500 each for their chosen charities.  
 
The team supporting The Malawi Mission Project was chosen to represent King William’s College at the final held at the Manx Museum. A team from the Isle of Man College and from every 6th Form on the Island was there to take part in the Charity Challenge 2010 final. The teams were judged on their ability to present their charity as doing work which was worthy and needy of the money and which was fulfilling the ten Millennium goals. They were also judged on their ability to promote their charity relevantly and the work they do to support the community.  
 
The King William’s College team was awarded the first place prize and a prize of £4,000 for their charity. The Malawi Mission Project works directly with local communities, with the aim of helping the rural people of Malawi to help themselves. Through emergency aid, education programmes, health schemes, water and agricultural projects the Project seeks to create long term and sustainable development initiatives that will help to eradicate poverty.  The money that was won went towards building another borehole and planting fruit trees and trees for firewood.  
 
By taking part in the Charity Challenge Competition, we have seen how charities support the people of Malawi and other, less fortunate countries in the world, to improve their lives. It is easy for somebody to give money to a charity, but the teams that took part in Charity Challenge got the opportunity to research and find out exactly where the donated money goes, and the chance to represent a charity in our own personal way.  
 
Radheswari Measuria, L6