Let's salute Charlene!
Hats off to the courageous and determined Charlene Barr, teenage cystic fibrosis sufferer who has raised almost £90,000 to build a school in Uganda.
Charlene, who belongs to the parish of Magheralin and Dollingstown, urgently needs a life-saving double lung transplant and the recent good news is that she is now well enough to be on the transplant list.
Meanwhile, Charlene's Project, which is raising funds to rebuild the Hidden Treasure Primary, School in Uganda, goes from strength to strength, surpassing the original target of £70,000.
The new school, which is currently a one room, mud and stick building, will be built in two blocks and will hopefully one day house around 250 pupils.
Charlene's Dad, Dickie Barr, writes:
[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif][if gte mso 9]><![endif] <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face { panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; font-:11.0pt;"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault { font-:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> [if gte mso 10]><![endif]"Almost £90,000 has been raised and the school build in Uganda will be starting in the next few weeks, with a projected finish date of Autumn. Charlene has started to talk about building an orphanage next, so the fundraising continues both for the school and whatever else comes next. Who knows what is ahead... Her enthusiasm is incredible and her fight to continue to make a difference in Uganda as she struggles with her own failing health is amazing."
Please pray urgently that Charlene gets a call from the transplant team in Newcastle as her window for a transplant is short.
To keep up to date with Charlene's Project, read her blog and to donate, visit
www.charlenesproject.org