The annual Global Angel Awards were launched on Friday 2nd December, raising over £90,000 for the charity - What a spectacular event, hosted by Ambassadors Caroline Feraday and Tony Moore! The Awards, including an acoustic concert with Daniel Bedingfield, were followed by an Angels In Concert special hosted by Natasha Bedingfield and featuring Leona Lewis, Joss Stone and John Forte. The Awards allowed us to honour those outstanding Angels who have helped us achieve our vision in the past 6 years and winners included Ambassadors Bear Grylls, Bonita Norris and new Angel John Forte.

The feedback from the evening has been fantastic. Artists Joss Stone & John Forte have both Stepped Up to become new Angel Ambassadors and Leona Lewis loved the 100% Promise and our charity. Presenter & model Lizzie Cundy said, "Amazing night for Global Angels. Thank you Natasha and Daniel Bedingfield and your lovely mum Molly!" We are thrilled at all the praise we have received from guests and artists alike in the aftermath of the Awards and Concert. We are so pleased everyone had such a great time.

Our personal highlights have to come from the mind-blowing performances given by the artists on the night, in particular Natasha Bedingfield's rendition of Prince's 'Purple Rain'. At the end of the concert, all 5 artists took to the stage together, treating us to a once in a lifetime jam session between them. The perfect end to an amazing night, but not before we celebrated Natasha & Daniel's birthday with an amazing cupcake-style birthday cake! Leona Lewis told us, "I loved being a part of the Global Angels concert, it's truly such a wonderful charity that is doing such essential work and saving lives. Their 100% promise is amazing. Supporting them in their mission is something i would encourage everyone to do."

View more videos of the Awards & Concert on our YouTube channel

Natasha Bedingfield 'Purple Rain':
 

The whole evening was streamed live direct from the Global Angels Facebook page, sponsored by Bupa International and provided by Noonan Media. Thousands worldwide managed to watch the concert as it was happening online, something we we were so happy to be able to offer. It felt amazing to know that Angels around the world could join us for this special launch. For those of you who missed the stream, or simply want to relive the evening, we will be releasing videos soon on our blog and Facebook page.

Our first of many future annual Angel Awards, we used this occasion to launch our search for an inspirational Angel, an 'unsung hero' who you think deserves recognition for their contribution and efforts to make the world a kinder place. We need your help to find this special person and will be asking you to let us know your nominees some time next year.

The winners were:

Best Corporate Angel

• MWB Business Exchange

Best Corporate Partner

• ASHA
• Future Capital Partners
• GKN PLC

Best Charity Partner

• The Nema Foundation

Best Ambassador

• Bonita Norris
• Hazel Thompson
• Wendy Smith

Best Ambassador Partner

• Bear Grylls

Step Up Award

• John Forte
• Christophe Charlier

Photos by RGBDigital & UBPICS

We would also like to thank all of our amazing sponsors:

I am so excited to able to invite you join us in London for our Angels in Concert event on December 2nd at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. My daughter, Natasha Bedingfield, will be headlining the event, joined by Leona Lewis Joss Stone, John Forte (Grammy nominated artist, writer & producer) and DJ Oisin Lunny, with more friends to be confirmed.

We have been planning the concert most of this year and Natasha can't wait to be back in London for this gig and of course we can't wait for her to come

Please see the flyer below to find out more information about Angels in Concert with Natasha Bedingfield, and buy tickets HERE.

December 2nd also marks the launch of our first annual Global Angel Awards which will take place earlier in the evening. The Angel Awards will honour and reward those inspirational businesses and leaders who, through being outstanding 'Angels', have worked with us to fulfil our vision.

For more information about the Angel Awards, please view the full flyer here and contact us if you would like to buy a table or an individual ticket.

Tickets are available for both Angels in Concert (8.30pm), and the full event including the Angel Awards ceremony beforehand, which starts at 6.45pm. I'd love for you to join us at either event.

These events are fundraisers for Global Angels, and we would love as many people to attend as possible. With only 5 weeks to go, please help us spread the word by sharing the events with your friends and networks.

Love
Molly
x

We love sharing stories from our projects, and hope you all enjoy reading them! We recently gave you some updates from the Masai Mara in Africa - Today we are heading further South to Guludo, Mozambique and the Nema Foundation, (one of our partner projects) to tell you the story of Amina and orphan Facque Pira...

Faque Pira lives with his half brother and sister-in-law in a small hut in the remote and rural village of Naunde, Northern Mozambique. His parents passed away in 2007 and 2009 from the same undiagnosed illness, most likely to be HIV/AIDS. Struggling to make ends meet, the family was forced to send Faque’s 12 year old sister Muanassa to Macomia, a large town some 100 kilometres away where she is more vulnerable and more likely to be married off at a young age.

In 2008, Faque fell from a coconut tree while collecting coconuts to sell in his village. He broke his ankle very badly and doctors in the neighbouring villages were unable to repair it. His ankle has never properly set, leaving Faque unable to walk without the help of a stick.

In spite of his tragic story, Faque remains optimistic about the future. “I love going to school”, he explains, “my favourite subject is Portuguese, but I hope to learn English one day, too”. Faque is desperate to complete his schooling and will be able to apply for a Nema scholarship next year, which would support him throughout secondary school. One day he hopes to work for Nema to help other orphaned and vulnerable children in the same situation as him.

Amina Suale and her family of five live in Lumuamua, a poor and remote rural village along the coast of Northern Mozambique. Up until three years ago, the community relied on shallow, hand-dug ponds for their drinking water. Not only did these water sources fail to meet the community’s water needs, but they also propelled the spread of water-borne diseases such and diarrhoea, which causes around 10% of deaths in children under five.

In 2007 the community installed its first well. “Now, we never have problems with the water” explains Amina. “People come from all over the village to collect the water. There is enough for everyone and we no longer suffer from stomach aches and other illnesses.” Amina and her family are extremely relieved to have access to safe drinking water, as are the rest of the five hundred or so other villagers.

Even so, Lumuamua is a large and widely dispersed community and due to low rainfall, their next ambition is to install a second well to provide enough water for feeding crops and animals too. Amina’s final request that we put one in her back garden to save her the walk was possibly slightly pushing it, but the optimism is definitely a good sign.

 

Global Angels provides water, food, education, medical care and resources through Nema.

Step Up, be an Angel & donate to the Nema Project:

To find out more about Nema visit our project pages.

Global Angels currently provide water for around 6,000 people in tiny villages in a remote part of the Kajiado district of the Masai Mara and in Northern Kenya, where we have funded a water purification project for a community. Water is pumped from the River Thika to the purification plant and after being filtered and cleansed, safe clean water is pumped through pipes to the surrounding rural community.

The following stories demonstrate the success of the project and the amazing new opportunities given to the communities through the increased water supply. Community members were having to walk up for 18km a day just to reach safe drinking water for their families, this has now been drastically reduced.

We hope you enjoy these inspiring stories direct from the project in Kenya, to help us provide more water, please donate here:

Oloyiankalani Secondary School’s Agriculture Class

Last year, the Oloyiankalani students planted a large crop of carrots during their agriculture lessons. Thanks to the water that was available, the turnout was so high that even the school kitchen could not use them all up! The school therefore supplied the surplus to the surrounding Esiloyia community for a period of three months.

The agriculture teacher, Mr. Ole Mosiany, has discovered that the soil is very fertile and suitable for growing many different crops. If set up properly, the agriculture activities could provide good, sustainable, income generating activity to the school in the future.
 

Alice Matura

Alice, a mother from the Esiloyia Maasai community, used to have to endure an 18 km walk to and from the nearest water supply to fetch drinking water for her family. She now only needs to travel 4 kilometers for clean drinking water, saving her a tremendous amount of time each day. By using a donkey to transport the jerry cans the trip is also less strenuous. Alice has even been able to start a small beadwork business, along with several other women in the area, making use of their spare time not spent walking to get water.

Babu Mumanyi

Babu Mumanyi is a so called ‘shamba’ boy, earning a living taking care of someone else’s plot of land. His boss last year allocated him his own ½ acre plot to plant or grow whatever he needed for his own use. Since there is now plenty of water available Babu can grow kales, cabbages, corn and onions on the terrain. The compound looks beautiful as trees, flowers and grass also grow there in abundance. This ‘private’ vegetable garden has cut Babu's expenses for greens drastically and he now even has a little monthly return from the produce he grows.

A new concept from Preferred Hotel Group (PHG) and The Good Night Foundation (GNF) will allow new and existing Angels worldwide to use their holiday time not only as a way to relax and enjoy themselves but at the same time to help others worldwide and, 'give back' while travelling.

The nightly rate when booking PHG's 'City Kids' and 'Family Fun' offers will include a donation of $1 to $3 to Global Angels! With the packages available for the rest of 2011 we're really excited to see this new scheme in place, opening up yet another cool way to make a difference.

Maureen Raynaud, Executive Director at the Good Night Foundation said, “It is a win-win for both the guests and the participating hotels and resorts. We are pleased to provide a way for travelers to support global causes through our partner, Preferred Hotel Group,” said Executive Director Maureen Raynaud at The Good Night Foundation. “And, the hotels and resorts have an opportunity to increase their social responsibility and raise awareness among their guests."

It is amazing to see companies like the Preferred Hotel Group and The Good Night Foundation coming forward to Step Up and be Angels - We're really looking forward to seeing the results of this campaign and encourage all our Angels to take a look - you might find yourself booking a great holiday and supporting Global Angels in the process!