How your support helps

Joy* and her twins, UK

With prices in the shops rising fast, bringing up a family in the UK can be hard – especially when that family suddenly gets a lot bigger! “At my first scan, that’s when I found out I was having twins,” says Joy*, who lives in Edinburgh.“ I was happy but overwhelmed. I was really worried thinking ‘how am I going to care for two kids?'”

At the time, Joy and her partner were juggling work with looking after their older son, Jayden*. They were working long hours to earn as much as they could – but it still wasn’t going to be enough to manage when the twins arrived.

Then staff at the local toddler group where Joy was taking Jayden saw she needed help. They referred her for a Save the Children Early Years Grant. The grant meant Joy could buy all the things needed for a new baby – two new babies in fact! She bought a baby bed, cot sheets, towels, sleepsuits, bottles, teats, baby body wash and a twin feeding pillow. She held back £100 for when the twins were born to buy them each a rocker. She now has two healthy bouncing nine-month-old twins – Evan* and Mitchell* – and she’s grateful to Save the Children for helping her give them a good start in life.

“It really helped me, I was really happy to be able to get the things I needed.” Making sure mums and babies in the UK don’t go without is what Christmas Jumper Day is all about!

*names changed 

Nimia, Bolivia

Nimia’s children were going hungry, and at night they were shivering in the high altitude of Bolivia’s Potosí region. Their dad, Héctor, works away in construction, and it can take weeks for the money he earns to get home.

As climate change gets worse, the weather has become more unpredictable here, making it difficult for families to grow their own crops. It all meant that sometimes Nimia couldn’t put food on the table.

With help from Save the Children, Nimia took matters into her own hands. We bought her an oven and a fridge to kickstart her bakery business – baking and then hand-decorating cakes. As the business took off, she could afford the basics.

Nimia’s investing most of her profits back into the business, and spending much of the rest on healthy food for the kids. Her 11-year-old son Jhon says: “When I eat, I feel happier. [When I was hungry] I felt weak and tired.”

Her new income is also helping protect the family from the cold. “Now I can buy wool and I knit myself,” says Nimia. “I knit for my children, for my husband… these sweaters are warm.”

So Nimia is making the world better with a sweater – and so are you!

Kanha, Cambodia

Kanha’s garden is a bit out of the ordinary. For one thing, it floats– on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake. For another, it’s made almost entirely from rubbish. Kem Rai, Kanha’s auntie and main caregiver, explains. “I created my garden by collecting old bottles people throw away, to make floating rafts with old fishing nets.”

Save the Children encourages people to build these floating gardens to help solve a big pollution problem here on Tonle Sap. The gardens reduce plastic in the lake AND help families like Kanha’s grow the food they need. Win-win!

And that’s not all. People here mostly rely on fishing to earn an income – but climate change is making it much harder. “[Fish stocks] are going down because the water is really hot during the dry season,” explains Kem Rai. “Hot water makes it difficult for fish to live in.” So we’re helping families find new eco-friendly ways to make a living. We trained Kem Rai and gave her the money to make and sell non-polluting hand soap. We’ve also introduced eco-lessons in schools. After Kanha and her classmates learn about the environment and climate change, they spread the word to people in the community. Then they walk the talk by clearing up the plastic rubbish from the lake. So when you put on a silly sweater this Christmas Jumper Day – remember you’re doing it for children like Kanha and her community in Cambodia.