Six-year-old William is a kind-hearted boy with and strong sense of justice, so when he watched a documentary about children in Africa having only two meals a day, he was determined to make things right.
“William had many sleepless nights worrying and working out what he could do to help,” his mother Tara says.
William was ready to box up some of his toys and send his pocket money over to Africa when Tara suggested they start a fundraiser for children in need instead.
As an animal lover, William suggested a pet shop. He could collect insects and frogs from his garden and sell them in the front yard. “It was a beautiful idea but at the same time I knew we wouldn’t have a lot of success,” Tara says, “so I suggested cupcakes.”
More than 100 vanilla and chocolate cupcakes later, and a lot of colourful sprinkles on the kitchen counter, William set up his cupcake stall in the front yard of the family home in Queensland.
Tara advertised the cupcake stall fundraiser on their neighbourhood Facebook page, and began taking orders of six cupcakes.
With the help of family, friends and their community, William and Tara raised $130. “We made more than I thought we would, and William was very excited,” Tara says.
A family friend told William and Tara about ChildFund Australia supporting children in need, and William used the money raised from the sale of the cupcakes to buy Gifts for Good, including a dairy goat, chickens and a mosquito net.
Six-year-old William ices vanilla and chocolate cupcakes for his fundraiser to help children in need.
Tara says the fundraiser was an important learning experience for William, and she hopes to continue instilling in him the value of generosity and helping people less fortunate.
“I got him to tell people what the cupcake stall was raising money for,” she says. “I thought it was better that he explains it rather than me doing it for him. I wanted him to carry it through to the end, rather than me doing it for him.
“It made him think and probably made him more grateful for what he has.”
William’s cupcakes sell out like hot cakes. “I got him to tell people what the cupcake stall was raising money for,” William’s mother Tara says. “It made him think and probably made him more grateful for what he has.”
William hopes to travel to Africa one day. He wants to take his toys with him and donate them to children in need there.
In the meantime, however, William and Tara plan to donate more Gifts for Good.
“The idea of donating gifts is fabulous,” Tara says. “I think it’s great for kids to understand that they can donate $10 and give an item like a mosquito net to a family.”
William and his mother Tara, from Queensland, raised $130 from the sale of cupcakes, which they used to donate Gifts for Good to children in need around the world.
As the global pandemic continues to impact millions of lives around the world, ChildFund is working with the Timor-Leste Ministry of Health to make sure communities in remote and rural areas can access the vaccine and stay safe from COVID-19.
As of August 2021, Timor-Leste reported 11,100 cases of COVID-19 and 26 recorded deaths. Case numbers continue to rise every day.
When the AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, the country relied on international aid to provide enough doses to vaccinate their entire population. Earlier this year, with support from the Australian Government, they began distributing the vaccine to frontline healthcare and essential workers.
The vaccine was then rolled out to people in densely populated areas of the capital, Dili, before being distributed to remote and rural communities.
As part of its nutrition programs, ChildFund Timor-Leste is supporting the country’s Ministry of Health to vaccinate communities in disadvantaged, remote and rural communities in Lautem municipality.
Those who live in rural areas tend to be more hesitant about the vaccine. ChildFund is working with government partners on a public health campaign to make sure that these communities have access to reliable information about COVID-19, to dispel any misinformation about the vaccine, and to raise awareness about why the vaccine is so important for families to stay safe.
ChildFund has been helping to transport health professionals to remote areas to share information about the vaccine. ChildFund is also supporting government partners in the planning and logistics of vaccinating large numbers of people in these communities.
Paulino da Costa, ChildFund Health Assistant in Lautem, says they are still facing some challenges.
“When we approached people door-to-door many people told us they did not want to receive the vaccine,” she says. “This was due to the misinformation. But after we explained the benefits of the vaccine to them, and showed them some of the data, some of them agreed to get vaccinated.”
ChildFund has helped Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Health distribute vaccines in Iliomar and Lautem – with 11,562 people receiving their first dose and 970 people having received both doses.
