How the Butterfly Tree started
While watching Comic Relief this year I saw a young boy in Zambia drifting into a coma caused by malaria. His mother held his hand. He never woke up.
The awful truth is that every 40 seconds, a child dies of malaria – and yet, a mere £5.00 buys a mosquito net that can protect a young life. We in the Doubleday family wanted to do something about it – and found the Butterfly Tree charity, run by Jane Kaye-Bailey. Jane visited Zambia in 2006. It’s one of the poorest countries in the world with two-thirds of its people living on less than 50p a day, and their children are dying from Malaria in huge numbers.
This little charity, working directly with the people concerned and wasting no money in administrative costs, gave us a way to do something to help. At its heart lies the making of very simple little butterflies, from wire and tulle net, to sell through various venues, but people joined us to contribute lots of other craftwork. On Saturday 27th April we invited people to our home for a butterfly tea party and raised enough money to buy 40 mosquito nets.
Our butterfly campaign will run throughout the summer. It will end in September with a Butterfly Supper co-hosted with the Coast Café in Whiting Bay, to whom we are most grateful. Details will appear in a future edition of he Voice.
How can you help?
There are lots of ways to help make a real difference for people in Zambia. You can:
- Help make tulle butterflies for selling on the island
- Sell butterflies through your own shop or café
- Get a group of friends together and host your own butterfly tea party – we can supply butterfly craft materials and cake
- Collect for the charity at any event you are involved with
Contact Fiona if you want to know more. E-mail fionadoublday@me.com or phone 01770 700470.
You can also donate through www.mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/fionadoubleday1
See Fiona’s lively blog for a running update on progress – www.scottishislandmum.blogspot.co.uk
