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Campus Youth Centre,
Berinsfield, Oxfordshire & Operation Noah’s Ark
Operation Noah’s
Ark has been set up by the Campus Youth Centre,
in Berinsfield, Oxfordshire, UK, as a means of
helping Kenyan orphans, while also helping youth centre members to acquire
new skills and work-related knowledge.
Its aim is not only to raise funds, but also to
participate in creating Noah’s Ark itself, by visiting Mumias, and
getting their hands dirty. In November 2004 a group travelled to Kenya and
assisted the work there, and again in 2005, and it is hoped more visits will take place. They
will be involved in construction and decorating, some with child care, and some may even spend
a week teaching English. They learn at first hand what it really
means to be hard up, and it puts their own lives in perspective and adds to
the progress they are already making towards a fulfilling adult life.
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Their commitment has added value for the Berinsfield community, as this positive
involvement helps reduce anti-social behaviour. This also benefits local employers seeking
employable young people.
Operation Noah’s Ark has the support of
Oxfordshire County Council, which runs the Youth Centre, and of the
Police.
A paper on the Berinsfield initiative is available in Word .doc format
(please Click
here ) and in Adobe .pdf format (please Click
here).
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A report of their visit to Kenya
(November 2005)
PC John Cornellius
and Anti-social behaviour Co-ordinator Louise Russell flew out to Kenya in
November with children from Berinsfield, to open an orphanage in Mumias
for children who have lost their parents through HIV.
The joint initiative between Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire Youth
service, called Noah’s Ark, was set up in 2004 as a diversion project
from anti-social behaviour in Berinsfield. Last year young people of the
Campus youth centre on the estate fundraised towards the new day-care
centre.
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