Help Hoby achieve his dream to visit the UK!
Donation protected
**PLEASE READ BEFORE SHARING ON FACEBOOK**
Hello SEEDlings!
If you have worked or volunteered with SEED/Azafady within the last 8 years, it is highly likely you met Hoby during your stay in Madagascar, in particular those which spent any time volunteering on the conservation project. You will remember Hoby as a kind and generous man, laid-back and funny, a patient and giving teacher, a great storyteller and listener, a humble and modest individual revered and respected by both vazahas and local Malagasy people.
It is one of Hoby’s biggest dreams to travel; he has never left Madagascar and he is unlikely to ever have the opportunity. He would often speak of the larger world and countries he would like to go to, but top of the list in every conversation we had was to visit the UK - call him crazy for wanting to experience the British weather but its all because of the many people that have become dear friends to this lovely man. So myself and Jamie, 2 SCRP/ACP staff from 2018-2019, are calling on these friends from all over the world to help make Hoby’s dream come true - thats you!
In a nutshell, the dream is to fully fund a 3 week trip for Hoby to visit the UK. As not to interfere with the great work he’s helping carry out in Sainte Luce, the plan is to fly him over during the mid-scheme break of March/April 2020 - meaning if he’s lucky, he might just experience the beginning of the British ‘summer!’
To get an idea of how much money we would need to raise, a breakdown of the budget has been put together. The visa and flights will be pretty rigid, but the cost of items such as food and accommodation can be bought right down by staying with friends, cooking dinner for Hoby etc when he arrives.
Budget Breakdown
Return flights Fort Dauphin to Tana: £180
Return flights Madagascar to the UK: £750
Accommodation in Tana incl. food & airport transfers: £50
Standard Visitor Visa Fee: £93
Food & drink in UK: £450 (works out at £7 a meal)
Train/Travel in UK: £300
Excursions/activities: £250
Accommodation: £350
SIM Card & data: £20
SUBTOTAL: £2443
PLUS 2.9% fundraising fee: £71 (after extensive research, GoFundMe is the cheapest host site to use)
TOTAL £2514
This may seem like an awful lot of money but in reality, it really isn’t! Hoby would have crossed path with at least 160 volunteers over his employment with SEED, not to mention all the research assistants and co-ordinators of the SCRP/ACP programme, and all other members of international office based staff; Thats only around £10 each! Chances are if you’ve worked with SEED, you likely work in development or conservation, 2 notoriously under/unpaid sectors where £10 can go a long way. So just once, blow off those after work pints, skip that pool day at Talinjoo, buy that Sainsbury’s pizza over a Domino’s and put those pennies towards making this possible.
An enormous challenge of this will be keeping it a secret from Hoby. We obviously are very much looking forward to giving him the fantastic news, but more importantly we need to avoid any disappointment if we are unsuccessful raising enough money. Additionally, Hoby is a humble man and will not feel particularly comfortable knowing this is going on around him! For these reasons, it is paramount that it is kept secret. Due to Hoby’s presence on Facebook, that means no sharing on social media! Spreading the word is going to be a challenging feat and we desperately need your help with this part. We need everyone that receives this to send it on to their fellow volunteers, co-workers and former colleagues by email, text, whatsapp, Facebook messenger, whatever you have; not one person knows everybody (except Hoby himself!) so we can only achieve this by passing back through time via the people, scheme by scheme, year by year.
In order to keep this trip as personal (and as cheap!) as possible, it would be fantastic for people to host Hoby during his UK visit. The aim is to focus on the South, avoiding the logistics and costs of long-distance travel, so anyone able to house this wonderful man please contact Steph (see contact information at bottom of page). Its impossible to predict his itinerary at this stage, but we’re thinking London, Oxford and Bristol will definitely be on the cards. If you live in one of these places and want to host, fantastic! If you want to host but live outside these places, even better! Lets give Hoby the opportunity to see as many places as possible.
Obviously, the more money we can raise, the better! He can do more trips, excursions, activities than originally planned, or be able to front the cost of any extra accommodation required. So please share (remember, not on social media!) with friends, family, old flames, ex-colleages, volunteers you haven’t spoken to in years, your next-door neighbours - the lot. This is an easy feat guys if everyone helps just a little bit.
Finally, If you would like to...
- Host Hoby
- Meet with Hoby during his stay
- Have any grand ideas for days out, activities etc (London towers, London Zoo, cinema, bowling… etc)
- Want to help in any other way
- or just want to keep informed and updated on dates/times/places?
… please send Steph an email at [email redacted].uk. I will create a contact group and email regular updates. Hoby will love to see as many familiar faces as possible so please everyone, lets make an effort to spend an hour, a day or a week with this wonderful man and make his dream come true.
Please everybody, reach into those pockets of yours and help make this magic happen for our dear friend.
All the love,
Steph and Jamie
Hello SEEDlings!
If you have worked or volunteered with SEED/Azafady within the last 8 years, it is highly likely you met Hoby during your stay in Madagascar, in particular those which spent any time volunteering on the conservation project. You will remember Hoby as a kind and generous man, laid-back and funny, a patient and giving teacher, a great storyteller and listener, a humble and modest individual revered and respected by both vazahas and local Malagasy people.
It is one of Hoby’s biggest dreams to travel; he has never left Madagascar and he is unlikely to ever have the opportunity. He would often speak of the larger world and countries he would like to go to, but top of the list in every conversation we had was to visit the UK - call him crazy for wanting to experience the British weather but its all because of the many people that have become dear friends to this lovely man. So myself and Jamie, 2 SCRP/ACP staff from 2018-2019, are calling on these friends from all over the world to help make Hoby’s dream come true - thats you!
In a nutshell, the dream is to fully fund a 3 week trip for Hoby to visit the UK. As not to interfere with the great work he’s helping carry out in Sainte Luce, the plan is to fly him over during the mid-scheme break of March/April 2020 - meaning if he’s lucky, he might just experience the beginning of the British ‘summer!’
To get an idea of how much money we would need to raise, a breakdown of the budget has been put together. The visa and flights will be pretty rigid, but the cost of items such as food and accommodation can be bought right down by staying with friends, cooking dinner for Hoby etc when he arrives.
Budget Breakdown
Return flights Fort Dauphin to Tana: £180
Return flights Madagascar to the UK: £750
Accommodation in Tana incl. food & airport transfers: £50
Standard Visitor Visa Fee: £93
Food & drink in UK: £450 (works out at £7 a meal)
Train/Travel in UK: £300
Excursions/activities: £250
Accommodation: £350
SIM Card & data: £20
SUBTOTAL: £2443
PLUS 2.9% fundraising fee: £71 (after extensive research, GoFundMe is the cheapest host site to use)
TOTAL £2514
This may seem like an awful lot of money but in reality, it really isn’t! Hoby would have crossed path with at least 160 volunteers over his employment with SEED, not to mention all the research assistants and co-ordinators of the SCRP/ACP programme, and all other members of international office based staff; Thats only around £10 each! Chances are if you’ve worked with SEED, you likely work in development or conservation, 2 notoriously under/unpaid sectors where £10 can go a long way. So just once, blow off those after work pints, skip that pool day at Talinjoo, buy that Sainsbury’s pizza over a Domino’s and put those pennies towards making this possible.
An enormous challenge of this will be keeping it a secret from Hoby. We obviously are very much looking forward to giving him the fantastic news, but more importantly we need to avoid any disappointment if we are unsuccessful raising enough money. Additionally, Hoby is a humble man and will not feel particularly comfortable knowing this is going on around him! For these reasons, it is paramount that it is kept secret. Due to Hoby’s presence on Facebook, that means no sharing on social media! Spreading the word is going to be a challenging feat and we desperately need your help with this part. We need everyone that receives this to send it on to their fellow volunteers, co-workers and former colleagues by email, text, whatsapp, Facebook messenger, whatever you have; not one person knows everybody (except Hoby himself!) so we can only achieve this by passing back through time via the people, scheme by scheme, year by year.
In order to keep this trip as personal (and as cheap!) as possible, it would be fantastic for people to host Hoby during his UK visit. The aim is to focus on the South, avoiding the logistics and costs of long-distance travel, so anyone able to house this wonderful man please contact Steph (see contact information at bottom of page). Its impossible to predict his itinerary at this stage, but we’re thinking London, Oxford and Bristol will definitely be on the cards. If you live in one of these places and want to host, fantastic! If you want to host but live outside these places, even better! Lets give Hoby the opportunity to see as many places as possible.
Obviously, the more money we can raise, the better! He can do more trips, excursions, activities than originally planned, or be able to front the cost of any extra accommodation required. So please share (remember, not on social media!) with friends, family, old flames, ex-colleages, volunteers you haven’t spoken to in years, your next-door neighbours - the lot. This is an easy feat guys if everyone helps just a little bit.
Finally, If you would like to...
- Host Hoby
- Meet with Hoby during his stay
- Have any grand ideas for days out, activities etc (London towers, London Zoo, cinema, bowling… etc)
- Want to help in any other way
- or just want to keep informed and updated on dates/times/places?
… please send Steph an email at [email redacted].uk. I will create a contact group and email regular updates. Hoby will love to see as many familiar faces as possible so please everyone, lets make an effort to spend an hour, a day or a week with this wonderful man and make his dream come true.
Please everybody, reach into those pockets of yours and help make this magic happen for our dear friend.
All the love,
Steph and Jamie
Organizer
Stephanie Jade
Organizer