WORKMATES have flocked to help Wrexham-based charity Teams4U.
It comes after one of their colleagues volunteered to spend her summer holiday helping under-privileged children in poverty-stricken Uganda.
Ciara Whittaker, a secretary with Walker Smith Way solicitors, is hoping her visit to Africa will be as life-changing for the children she comes into contact with as it will be for her.
She said: “In Uganda we will be concentrating on sports, playing football and netball with youngsters and taking out kit for them to use.
“We’ll set up a soccer and fun camp for children, offer them coaching and a chance to join in team games. In some areas children have to share one pair of boots between them. We hope to bring some extra fun into their lives.”
Ciara, who will be one of about 14 volunteers joining the trip, was delighted when colleagues at Walker Smith Way voted to make Teams4U one of two benefactors of the firm’s annual fundraising summer barbecue which raised £2,405.
Teams4U will receive half the proceeds, £1,202, with the rest going toward research into the rare genetic condition tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC).
Ciara, 25, had thought about helping Teams4U for some time, as she is friends with Naomi Cooke, daughter of the charity’s leader Dave Cooke.
“They have often asked me to join one of the trips, but this is the first time I have had chance. It’s a big step but it’s well worth doing and Teams4U does such good work, not just in Uganda but in other impoverished areas of the world,” she said.
If the trip is a success she’s hoping to support the charity further, perhaps by joining other international ventures.
She said: “One thing’s for sure, it will be the journey of a lifetime.”
Ciara, has worked for Walker Smith Way for two years, having grown up in Wrexham, where parents Yvonne and Richard still live.
She attended St Joseph’s School and later Bangor University, where she studied nursing at first, then switched careers to study for the first part of her legal executive exams.
Friend Naomi will also be going on the Uganda trip, along with another of their pals, Hannah Jones, of Wrexham.
For more information, visit www.teams4u.com.
