One cold January Friday night, the night that the youth groups of Moseley Parish and Christ Church in Selly Park had been preparing for, had finally arrived. After months of planning, fundraising and putting on of warm clothing, 17 young people and their leaders, met to spend the night, outside, in January! There were no tents – just a fire pit, sleeping bags, bivvy bags, tarpaulins and plenty layers of clothing and freezing cold temperatures.
That night the youth groups played games, participated in Bible Study and prayers and enjoyed plenty of food and hot drinks, while getting to know each better and learning about God in the wider world.
On Saturday morning, after awakening to the frozen dawn, the youth left their cosy nests to enjoy breakfast together before putting their things away and moving to St Mary’s Church in Moseley to make and sell bacon sandwiches to everyone attending the Moseley Farmer’s Market.
Why might you ask did they do all this? To raise money for Amani, a charity that supports Street Children in Tanzania that the youth groups had been learning about in the previous months. Having been inspired to raise money for the charity the youth set themselves a goal of raising £2,500. Through their hard work and enthusiasm they smashed their original goal and instead raised £8533 (this includes £2500 in match funding from the Rev Ted Baines Charity).
“This has been so much fun! When can we do it again?”
(MP aged 11)
“This took me way out of my comfort zone, but I only had to do it for one night, it made me realise how tough life can be for these kids on the street.”
(LE aged 14)
“As a youth leader, you always want to instil in your young people a heart for those less fortunate than themselves. This event took some of the young people way out of their comfort zones, and put them in a position where they could empathise with those children who find themselves on the streets. Their willingness to forgo home comforts for the night and put up with freezing temperatures was brilliant to see and will hopefully lead to a lifelong heart to help other people.”
(Rachel Fasham, Children’s Families and Youth Minister at Christ Church in Selly Park)