Saturday, 20th May 2023, sees a celebration of Spring at Springfest, taking place in the Top Hall at the Promenade Methodist Church in Douglas. The event is a collaboration between Café Lingo, The Welcome Project and the One World Centre.
Entertainment at a previous Springfest
Springfest will feature live music, games and quizzes, food from around the world and children’s activities. Fun for all the family, it is free to attend and open to everyone of any nationality, gender, faith or no faith.
Among the performers will be Manx dance group Perree Bane, Annie Pearce on the handpan, Paul Rogers on the fiddle and Vlad the Piper playing the Bulgarian bagpipe. Members of the Chinese Association will also be performing a dance.
The winning team from Ballakermeen who represented the charity Advantage Africa
A thrilling finals night saw a team from Ballakermeen High School scoop the top prize in this year’s One World Charity Challenge event, held at Babbage’s at the end of March.
Representing the charity Advantage Africa, the Ballakermeen team gave a lively and highly entertaining presentation that focused on the charity’s work, particularly with those suffering from albinism. Presenting in a game-show format, the team demonstrated what they had learned and how they had raised awareness of the work of the charity with other young people on the Isle of Man. They were awarded Overall Winners and received a cheque for £4,000 which will go directly to the charity.
Runner’s up St Ninian’s High School were runners up and also won an extra £1,000 advocacy prize for Tree Aid
It is the second year in a row that a team from Ballakermeen has been awarded top prize, however it was a closely fought contest with the team from St Ninian’s High School, representing Tree Aid, taking second prize and also the AFD Award for Advocacy which meant they won £3,000 for their chosen charity.
A team from King William’s College, representing Gumboots UK, an education charity working with young people in South Africa, were placed third winning £1,000, with Castle Rushen High School representing Hospice Africa and Queen Elizabeth II High School representing International Refugee Trust winning £700 and £500 respectively.
The Castle Rushen team represented Hospice Africa
This was the sixteenth edition of One World Charity Challenge which is an annual project for Year 12 students on the Isle of Man. Small teams choose a charity working in the field of international development, researching it, advocating for it and drawing together a multimedia presentation which is delivered in front of a live audience. The teams must also show how the charity addresses the aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which aim to shape a fairer and more sustainable world for all.
The project was kindly enabled this year through the sponsorship of Gary and Susan Clueit, who have supported educational opportunities, mostly for women, in sub-Saharan Africa for many years through their charity foundation. All the charities in this year’s Charity Challenge are working in Africa and all those not being represented in the grand finals event each received a donation of £150 on behalf of the teams representing them.
QE2 represented International Refugee Trust
The uneviable task of choosing the winners fell to the judges who this year comprised Jesamine Kelly, Principal of UCM, Joff Whitten of the Children’s Centre, Zara Lewin, Onchan Commissioner and Youth Worker, Vusimbe Zivave, an architect raised in Zimbabwe, and Joney Faragher MHK.
Speaking after the event, One World Charity Challenge Project Officer Helen Kneale said, “The finals night is culmination of six months of work by the teams who have already taken part in in-school heats to get to the finals. Overall, we had 21 teams of young people taking part who all had the opportunity to learn about charities working in international development and to understand how their own actions could make a difference to their chosen charity’s aims.
King William’s College presenting on Gumboot UK
“As well as encouraging young people to become global citizens, the project provides lots of useful transferable skills such as research, presenting, teamwork and time management that will be extremely beneficial for future university and job applications.”
We’re thrilled to say that our collection on the Isle of Man for the Turkey Syria Earthquake Appeal has now reached over £17,000! That’s an amazing amount and we’d like to thank everyone who donated and all those who made the collection possible.
Photo: Turkish Red Crescent
Although the earthquake has now receded from the news headlines, the situation is still acute.
DEC funds are providing urgent relief for people affected including emergency shelter, medical care, hot food and food parcels, blankets, bedding and other household items, clean water and safe spaces for children.
Overall more than £100 million has been raised through the DEC Appeal and it will all be used to help those facing the aftermath of these devastating quakes that have also claimed over 50,000 lives.
We have collected over £8,000 for the DEC Turkey Syria Earthquake Appeal this weekend – thank you everyone who contributed. But we are not finished yet: we’re aiming to hold collections in Port Erin, Ramsey and Peel this coming weekend. We need volunteers to make the most of this – if you have an hour to spare to help out please let us know.
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You will all have seen the news coverage from the terrible earthquakes that have caused such devastation and loss of life in both Turkey and Syria. While the race continues to find survivors in the rubble, tens of thousands have been injured and hundreds of thousands have lost their homes. Funds are urgently needed to support families with medical aid, emergency shelter, food and clean water in freezing weather conditions.
The Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella organisation that represents 15 different international charities who come together in times of crisis, has now launched an appeal and the One World Centre will be holding a street collection in response to this. We are currently making arrangements with town commissioners etc. Tesco has kindly offered us space on Friday 10th, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February to collect there and Shoprite has also kindly offered its stores on the afternoon of Friday 10th February, all day on Sunday 12th February and also the weekend of 18th and 19th February. We’d really like to make the most of these opportunities so please get in touch if you can help with collecting by emailing info@owciom.org or calling 310191. Thank you.
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Could there really be modern slavery on the Isle of Man? What might it look like and what can we do to prevent it? Come along to our free talk to find out more.
Despite the abolition of the slave trade some 200 years ago, millions of people around the world are trapped in modern slavery and forced labour. These victims of trafficking, coercion by organised crime groups and other exploitative behaviour are often “unseen” by those around them.
What can businesses, organisations, goverment, local authorities and individuals do ensure we are not facilitating the exploitation of people here on the Island or through our networks and supply chains? What regulation should you be aware of and how does the UK Modern Slavery Act impact those operating from the Island?
Hosted by the One World Centre (Isle of Man), this talk will be led by Robin Brierley, Executive Director of the West Midlands Anti-Slavery Network and an independent consultant on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
An expert on the subject, Robin has worked for the National Crime Squad, Anti-Corruption Command within the Metropolitan Police, and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (now National Crime Agency). He joined the Enforcement Directorate as a Senior Investigation Officer and later the Intelligence Directorate working on organised immigration crime. Robin was then seconded to the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) before leaving SOCA in 2011 to set up his own company.
Attendance is free but please register for a place here.
Coffee and pastries available from 8.30am with the talk starting at 9am.
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We are delighted to be working with teams from the Isle of Man Government to deliver some free training on financial crime awareness to non-profits on the Isle of Man.
This open and informal session will include updates on anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing regulations, as well as recent corruption and bribery legislation.
Forewarned is forearmed when it comes to the risks of financial crime: protecting your organisation is vital not only for keeping hold of your valuable funding but also keeping hold of your reputation too.
The training takes place at the Top Hall, Promenade Methodist Church, Loch Promenade Douglas at 7pm on Tuesday 29th November. It is free to attend but please book through the link here
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As you have probably heard, there have been devastating floods in Pakistan which are reported to have seen up to a third of the country underwater with whole villages cut off and homes destroyed and damaged. Huge areas of agricultural land are believed to have been affected, with crops swept away and three quarters of a million livestock killed. There is also a high risk from water-borne diseases spreading in affected areas
The Disasters Emergency Committee has called an appeal to help and assist aid agencies to meet people’s basic needs such as food, clean water and shelter. As usual, the One World Centre will be coordinating a street collection in the Isle of Man for local people to donate to the appeal. This will take place in the main towns – Douglas, Ramsey, Peel, Port Erin and Castletown – between Friday 9th and Sunday 11th September.
We desperately need volunteers to help with these collections – if you are able to help, even if only for an hour on one of these days, please get in touch with Wendy either by emailing info@owciom.org or calling 310191.
Please come and join us at our AGM which will take place at 7pm on Tuesday 27th September in the top hall at the Promenade Methodist Church in Douglas.
After the brief formal procedures we will be welcoming Karolina Davison who will talk to us about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, how the Isle of Man has responded to the unfolding humanitarian crisis and what more we can do. Karolina, who is herself Ukrainian but has lived on the Isle of Man for many years, has been a driving force in helping those arriving on our shores in recent months.
Please come along and support us – we’d be pleased to hear your thoughts and ideas on our work and the future of the One World Centre. We also hope to announce the winners of our 2022 SDG Art Competition on the theme of ‘A Peaceful World’!
The One World Centre (Isle of Man) is a development education charity with a mission to educate for a fair and sustainable world for everyone. Manx Registered Charity No. 1192.
