Haven Heroes
This page has been kept as a nostalgic reminder of how a group of young people helped to create the HAVEN of today. Many of the Heroes, now adults, are members of the Haven committee and continue to actively take part in projects within the UK and in India.
The Haven Heroes are a group of 20 children aged between 8-17 that make up the junior group of the charity H-A-V-E-N Help A Village Emerge New.
The Heroes concentrate more on fundraising than anything else but have yearly visits to the centre to help out. The Heroes and the senior group hold the BBQ. The Heroes takecare of the stalls and the adults take care of the catering, making it a joint effort. Each Hero has their own stall except the very young Heroes who have stalls in twos.
“It makes me feel good in my heart to help the poor especially when I have come to realise just how much I take for granted in the world I live in.”
This is one of the comments from a Hero on joining the charity. The Heroes may be young but they are very active and have raised almost half of Haven’s annual budget!! Helping the poor whilst having a great deal of fun and building a real community here is how the Heroes feel about Haven.
“It makes me feel good in my heart to help the poor especially when I have come to realise just how much I take for granted in the world I live in.”This is one of the comments from a Hero on joining the charity. The Heroes may be young but they are very active and have raised almost half of Haven’s annual budget!! Helping the poor whilst having a great deal of fun and building a real community here is how the Heroes feel about Haven.
Paul Edwards
As well as raising all of this money the Heroes are able to have a really fun time. The Heroes take part in three main events; The BBQ, The Talent Show, and The Sponsored Walk.
These are also annual events.
The Heroes sometimes have other small events like Cake Sales and School Mufti Days.
Both the Heroes and the senior group take part in the Sponsored Walk. Last year we raised £1800 alone from the sponsored walk, which we found to be an unbelievable amount. This year we will have more
people walking so we hope to raise more if possible.
Our international branch, Heroes USA, completed their sponsored walk on the same day in Washington DC.
In Atla the Heroes will be more involved with the Learning Centre, as the Heroes are learning at school themselves. Schools have donated hundreds of books for the Learning Centre as well, giving the Heroes a helping hand.
“I had never been to India before so it was a new experience for me. What I saw was very different to home in England. There was a lot of poverty and very different to my life. I joined HAVEN Heroes at the very start and it was great to see what all our fundraising had achieved. It was very interesting to see what would happen when I tried to speak Bengali. My friend Rim taught me a phrase but no-one understood it. I can’t believe how many children came to the centre on the inauguration day and wanted to learn when I don’t like going to school, which made me stop and think about how privileged we are here and what we take for granted.”
Callum Morgan
“My first trip to Atla was two years before the inauguration when the entire building was simply a big empty field where few children were playing on. But my second trip to Atla was much more eventful and exciting as we could finally see the fully constructed centre. I was so happy to see all the children’s smiles on their faces when the red ribbon was cut and the gates were opened. During the inauguration the Centre was packed tight and people from 30km away came just for the opening.”
A Haven Hero who visited the centre.
