Newsletter.

Welcome to the latest news from Porridge and Pens!

We’re so grateful for your ongoing support, and we wanted to share some wonderful news and updates about what’s happening both here in the UK and in Ghana.

We’re starting off this newsletter with some amazing news about one of our students, Akwasi. Akwasi recently started training with Swim Africa, and he and his coach are dreaming big –maybe even all the way to the Paralympics in LA 2028.

Akwasi lost his leg in a road traffic accident when he was younger, and tragically, he also lost his mum a few years later. She was one of our brilliant school cooks and such a loved part of the Brightlingsea Academy family. It hit our school community hard when she passed, but we often say how proud she’d be of Akwasi now. He taught himself to swim in the river as a little boy, and even after everything he’s been through, he never stopped. These days, he wakes up at 4am to travel more than an hour and a half each way from our rural school to reach the nearest pool for training, and still gets back in time for school. When he first joined Brightlingsea Academy, Akwasi didn’t speak any English and rarely smiled. Five years later, he’s one of the most outgoing, popular, and determined students at our school. While Akwasi trains in Ghana, a team of brilliant supporters here in the UK is also swimming for change. They’re taking on the Swim Serpentine challenge in London this September, swimming across Hyde Park’s famous lake to raise funds and awareness for our work.

It’s such a lovely reminder that although we’re miles apart, we’re all working toward the same thing – giving every child the chance to thrive.

Fundraising adventures!

Right now, there’s a lot happening in the UK to raise funds for children like Akwasi. Glen has just taken on an epic South Downs bike ride challenge, pushing his limits to help us raise more.

Plus, a team from Brightlingsea is gearing up for the Ultra Challenge Gower Peninsula walk this weekend in Wales. They’ll be covering 50km—a huge, daunting challenge that could take up to 16 hours of straight walking. While most of the team have trained hard, a few of us are less fit and don’t have as much training under our belts. But when it’s for Porridge and Pens, every single step and every penny raised is worth it. However hard the weekend walk ahead might be!

We’ll be pushing through and would be incredibly grateful for any support or donations to encourage the team on. Here’s Jemma and Gregg’s donation pages if you wish to support them and the team. Thank you.

JEMMA'S FUNDRAISER

GREGG'S FUNDRAISER

Help Us Feed More Children: Our New Charity Lottery

Feeding 550 children every day across our two projects in Ghana is a big responsibility—and with food prices rising significantly since last year, covering these costs has become a real challenge.

The increase in food prices is due to several factors, including global supply chain disruptions, higher fuel and transport costs, and local weather challenges affecting crop yields. These have all combined to make food more expensive and harder to source.

To help with this, we launched a charity lottery a few months ago. Thanks to the generosity of a kind donor, we have £50 each month set aside as prize money, so none of the money from monthly donations is taken out of the prize fund. This means every pound donated goes straight to supporting nutritious meals for the children.

So far, we’ve had only 14 people sign up, which just about covers the prize amount. We’d love to increase this number so we can secure more consistent funding for food.

If you’d like to join the lottery or find out more, please visit: https://porridgeandpens.org/lottery

Your support means the world to us—and to the children we feed every day.

Thanks to the funds raised through our charity lottery and other donations, we’re able to provide nutritious meals to the children every day. Here’s an example of the kind of menu the lottery supports each week at Brightlingsea Academy:

Monday

• Breakfast: Tom Brown or Corn Porridge with sugar & milk
• Lunch: Waakye (Rice and Beans)

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Bread with tea or a cocoa drink
• Lunch: Banku with groundnut soup

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Rice porridge (Rice Water) with sugar & milk
• Lunch: Jollof rice

Thursday

• Breakfast: Yam
• Lunch: Plain rice with tomato stew

Friday

• Breakfast: Koko (spicy millet porridge) with bread
• Lunch: Kenkey and pepper sauce

Every meal nourishes our children, giving them energy and strength to learn, play, and grow. Your support truly makes a difference!

Save the date

We’re excited to announce our upcoming fundraising event—a fun-filled evening at Brightlingsea St James Church in the town centre on September 13th. Join us for live music, drinks, delicious food, and a lively auction, all to support the children and projects of Porridge and Pens. We’ll be selling tables very soon on our website, so keep an eye out and invite your friends to what promises to be a fantastic night. Mark your calendars—we can’t wait to see you there!

Thank you for being part of the Porridge and Pens family. Together, we’re creating brighter futures—one meal, one challenge, and one child at a time.

We’d be so grateful if you could share this newsletter with your friends, family, or anyone who might be interested in supporting our work. If you know of any community groups, such as local Rotary clubs, women’s unions, or other organisations, we’d love the opportunity to come and share the story of Porridge and Pens in person. Every conversation helps spread the word and bring more people into our community, so thank you for helping us grow!

Thank you for reading and believing in us!

From the whole P and P team x