Help Edo’s family fund

Meet Edo, his wife Patmi, and their son Adit. They live in Surabaya, Indonesia and are good friends of ours. As most of you know, we have both spent time living in Indonesia. Whist Roxanne was visiting me, we stayed in a shared house. Edo is the house maid. He cleans the house, washes everyone's clothes by hand, takes care of security and works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even when he is sleeping, he is on call. His wife, Patmi works in a beef jerky factory. A small factory which has one employee: her. She works 7 days a week for 600,000 Rupiah a month (that's 30 quid)! Edo's wage is the same. Considering minimum wage is 1,700,000, they do not even get that between them! Throughout the period we lived with them, we grew closer and closer. They would tell us stories about their aspirations. Most importantly, their wish for a house and another child. They have a room in the boarding house. One that they call home. It consists of a single mattress on the floor (for Edo and Patmi), a small fan, a wardrobe, and old television and a roll out mattress for Adit. This room is for relaxing, eating and sleeping. A little too crowded if you ask me! There is no space for another child. It would be impossible. Right now, their life is not complete. A second child would fill their world with hope again. Despite the struggles and constant lack of faith, they are the happiest people alive. They are forever laughing and joking about everything. They live a simple life, owning next to nothing and doing very little. What more could they possible need? A house. A house in their village where Adit can play. A house. A place where they can introduce their new child to the world. A house. Somewhere they can be independent, no longer relying on the owner of the boarding house for food and shelter. A house. An asset to pass on to their children. A house. A place where they can grow as a family. A house. We say a house but it is just a large room. A room which can be divided up into separate living spaces. A place which offers privacy. A house. Freedom. A house. A home. On September 6th we are participating in a Three Peak Challenge. We have 24 hours to hike Ben Nevis, Scafell Pie and Snowdon. It will be tough but we will hike with good intentions; with hope for Edo and his family. We want to raise money to get this family a house. It costs between 10 million and 20 million Rupiah. That is less than £1000! We have set this as our target. Anything left will go towards Adit's education. I am going to support him through school. Education is only free until age 11 so it is the best gift I can give to him. It will be my mission for the next 20 years. He is worth it! What we ask of you, dear friends, family and acquaintances is to donate something. Anything you can to help us reach our target. As Edo has no idea about this, I have written a letter which my friend will deliver once we have finished and reached our target. It will inform him about our accomplishments and of the money raised and instruct him to search for the house they have dreamed about. Once they have found one, we will use the money to pay for it. The money will be for a house and nothing else (except maybe a little for Adit's schooling). If we need to wait until they find the right place, so be it. It will be used eventually! You may be wondering, "Why this family? Why not help more people? There are many people in situations worse than them, why not share the wealth? What about giving it to a well-established charity? Charities can use the money to support a large number of people in need." Our answer is this: "We thought about the different charities which support people who are living in poverty, suffering from cancer and other fatal diseases/medical conditions or helping children to change their lives. We believe there are many charities out there which really need our help and understand more people would benefit if the funds were divided. But then again... why is it any better to make a small difference to many people's lives than change one family's life forever?" If you support our cause please donate. The link will be on tomorrow. Let us work together to get the Edo family a house! Thank you for reading, Bethany and Roxanne