It’s another ‘Cracker’ Christmas fundraiser!

And Ballymena’s only charity radio station has said a big ‘thank-you’ to all their sponsors, advertisers and the general public, “without whom”, it says, “Radio Cracker could not happen each year”.

A spokesperson for the charity pointed out that the final total had come in at £64,500 on Christmas Eve but that minutes later was pushed up further when a cheque for £1,000 was very generously presented.

The 2011 projects which are set to benefit from the grand £65,500 total, are -

* EMMS International: well building in Malawi. Access to clean water is the key to reducing the mortality rate and improving the health of those living in rural and isolated areas. In certain areas, a shallow well can be dug at the cost of £300.00, including pump, labour and other related materials.

* Mission Africa – Nigeria: Paying for the building and refurbishing of in Ogugu village, a training centre will for widows, abused and vulnerable women in Ogugu village. This centre will train women to make clothing and then will provide loans to enable the women to buy their own sewing machines. In due course, the women will become self-supporting and will be able to repay the loans, which will then be available for other such women.

* Mission Africa – Nigeria. While polio is virtually non-existent in the United Kingdom, it is still widespread in certain parts of Nigeria. Healthy children go to sleep at night and awaken the next morning with a slight fever and paralysed limbs. There is no cure and the children are left to get around as best they can, often walking on their hands. Radio Cracker has provided for new wheel chairs for several years now and did the same again in 2011.

* Second Sight – India. There are approximately 37 million blind people in the world and 15 million of them live in India. Many are blind due to cataracts and an operation to remove them and give the sufferer back their sight costs only £20.00. By paying for such operations, Radio Cracker hope to restore sight to at least 100 blind people.

* Coaching For Christ – Kenya. Without a proper education, many of Africa’s children are locked into a generational cycle of poverty and deprivation. Last year Radio Cracker helped with the purchase of land and the building of a new and much needed school. The building of the school is nearing an end and the charity intend providing funds for its completion.

* Kids4School Ministries – Tanzania. Many village children in central Tanzania have only water from puddles and infected lakes to drink. As a result, many die from diarrhoea related diseases from drinking the polluted water, before they reach their fifth birthday. The rains, when they come, can provide clean water for all the school children if properly ‘harvested’ and stored. Radio Cracker would like to provide sufficient funds to build two school water storage tanks.

* Friends of Rif – Morocco. In 2004, an earthquake devastated many villages in the Rif Mountains in north-west Morocco. Seven years later, many villagers are still living in ‘temporary’ mud and straw huts. During the winters, when the rains come and the temperature drops to freezing, hundreds of families are unable to stay dry and warm. Many children struggle and die with related illnesses such as pneumonia. We hope to be in a position to build new earthquake-proof homes for at least three families next year.