AMREF UK

The first entry is written by AMREF's Major Gifts and Partnerships Manager, Julia Hopper.

Day 1 : The launch

So today was our first day in action manning our AMREF stand at the Africa Village in Kensington Gardens!

As our new ‘home from home’ for the duration of the Olympics, we headed onto the site with a mixture of anticipation and excitement.
The site, right next to the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens,  was looking amazing in the London sunshine with 25 countries represented including Rwanda and Ethiopia – both countries where AMREF is working on improving maternal health. Given our esteemed company and our role as the only NGO in the village, we did wonder what people make of our stand? What would they think of our campaign, Stand up for African Mothers? Would anyone talk to us?!

I shouldn’t have worried. It was BRILLIANT!

The warmth from the visitors and other stallholders alike was immense. As is quite usual for AMREF in the UK, not many people had heard of us as an organisation but at no point in the day was it a conversation stopper. Quite the opposite – visitors wanted to find out more about Africa’s leading health charity, about our work, and about who we are as an organisation.

Today really reaffirmed what I know and love about AMREF – that it works because it is an African organisation and an African success story. We are where we should be, headquartered in Africa, with a true sense of the needs of communities on the ground.