street children

Thank you.

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child smiling

Austen, with his excercise book outside the classroom at Friends of Street Children.

Thank you to all those who have donated. I try to write either by email or post, but sometimes I miss donations and don’t. Some donate anonymously. Your generosity is very much appreciated. You are helping to save lives, for street children do die, damage their health, or simply disappear and the work you are supporting gives them a way out. For those that take this path, the work of Friends of Street Children (FSC), which through Romilly you are supporting, dramatically improves childrens’ life chances. FSC gets them back to school and what remains of their families. What struck me on my visit to Kitwe was how heroically the staff coped with lack of water and electricity (due to the drought), how generous they were of themselves, with their time and energy and how happy the children in their care were. On behalf of the staff of FSC and the children, thank you making for this possible. It would not be without you.

If you have not done so and would like to, please make a small monthly donation at

https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

A Happy New Year to all Romilly’s Supporters and Donors

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On behalf of the children and the staff at Friends of Street Children, Kitwe, Zambia (FSC) we wish you a healthy, prosperous, and peaceful 2025.
The FSC shelter rescues vulnerable children who have no home.
If you have donated to Romilly your donation will have gone to pay the staff salaries at FSC (Friends of Street Children) and through them the care of homeless children. We cannot thank you enough. 

At their last AGM, FSC replaced their board of trustees. We are delighted with this new infusion of energy. I am going out Kitwe, Zambia in February to see how they are getting on. I will return with photographs and video and will give a series of talks this spring explaining the work of FSC. If you would like to host my talk, with slides and video, please click here to send me an email. If you would like to make a donation, please click here https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173.

With best wishes for 2025,

James Forshall

This is Dominic Sahuku

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Dominic is 16 years old and studying Grade 11 at Mindolo Secondary School. Since his mother suffers from poor mental health and has been unable to take care of him Dominic has been moved from one relative to another. From the house of his last host, he was walking over five miles a day just get to and from school. He often returned late and tired, which led to arguments with his aunt. He was denied food for many days. His mother’s relatives treated him so badly that he ran away to take his chances on the street. At night he slept in a abandoned building until he was taken in by Friends of Street Children (FSC), who lodge him, feed him, and pay for his secondary school fees, books and uniform.

Dominic has always loved school and believes that education is the key to his future. His ambition is to become an accountant, but before he can, he must pass the exams and find the fees to enter university.

To come from such an unstable family background, to go from homeless to model pupil shows great character. We hope that his determination and hard work will be rewarded.

If you would like to help Dominic please donate through our Just Giving page here.

https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

The Power of Small

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We’ve said it before: the staff at FSC (Friends of Street Children in Kitwe) are tremendous. They clean cook, feed, teach and care for children who have no home. Their aim is to give these children a better life, bringing them back to whatever exists of their family, getting them back into school, getting them out of the filthy, dangerous, abusive life on the streets. Thanks to Romilly’s kind, generous donors her charity has been able to send funds to cover the salaries of these dedicated people. It is a double positive. People who give small monthly amounts are paying for the living of really heroic local people and through them caring for very vulnerable children. At the moment this costs about £1300 month, which exceeds Romilly’s charities monthly income, but just 130 people donating £10 a month would cover the cost of staff salaries as well as allow us to pay for essentials like mosquito nets and repair FSC’s buildings.

Please make a small monthly donation here: https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

Boys at FSC’s Kawama shelter, Kitwe, Zambia.

They say, ” Please make a small monthly donation here”

If you would like James Forshall to give a short talk with slides on FSC and Romilly’s charities please email him at jamesforshall@gmail.com

And better this II …

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Mrs Vimbi Chingaleeshi, the cook at the boys shelter Kawama, prepares the nshima with Jack. They are cooking on scavenged bits of wood because the supply of charcoal has run out.

Than this…

Street children in the gutter. They look dirty. Their clothes are filthy and they are infested with parasites. The boy to the left is holding a bottle containing glue which he sniffs. It helps to blot out pain, physical and mental, but damages the brain. These children are at risk of every kind of abuse and worse. Some will disappear. FSC, which Romilly’s generous donors have been supporting since 2005 provides a lifeline and a refuge for children like this. Thanks to the generosity of its supporters Romilly’s charity sends £1200 a month to pay for the salaries of the staff like Mrs Chingaleesi, who provide care for the children who choose to leave the life on the streets. Please help us to continue to do this by making a small monthly donation at https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

Better this….

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Better this….

This is Mary Imri a member of staff at FSC (Friends of Street Children, Kitwe, Zambia), and to her left one of the ex-street children in her care. They have been harvesting vegetables from the garden of the Kibusha girls home run by FSC.

Than that…..

The photograph below shows a child sitting on a pavement in Kitwe. The bottle he holds contains glue which he sniffs. Sniffing glue dulls the mind, taking the edge off cold, hunger, pain and unhappiness. It can also damage the brain, hearing, heart, kidneys, liver and lungs. It can lead to coma, and sudden death.

Staff from FSC are a regular presence on the streets of Kitwe working to gain the trust of street children, to encourage them to return to whatever remains of their families, or to come to the FSC shelters. Street children are also brought to the FSC by the social services. FSC staff provide a lifeline for these very vulnerable children, who are prey to every kind of abuse. Thanks to the generosity of Romilly’s supporters her charity has been able to send £1100 to £1200 a month to cover the staff salaries at FSC.

Please make a small monthly donation at https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

The only salaries paid for by Romilly are those of the staff at FSC, without whom the lives of many children of Kitwe would be a lot poorer and a great deal more dangerous.

If you would like to receive information about Romilly’s charity, FSC and our fund raising activites to support the work they do please email Jame Forshall at jamesforshall@gmail.com

Laying the Foundations

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The foundations of the new sanitation block being laid at the Kawaza shelter for street children.

The new sanitation block is necessary because visitors to the site currently can only use the WC’s in the dormitories, also many of the street children visiting the shelter have never used a WC before. The building will cost £850, which was kindly donated through a 2 Wheel Appeal fund-raiser organised by Miki Jablowska. Miki has been a tremendous supporter of Romilly and Friends of Street Children, running two marathons for them.

The young man with the pink shirt tail in the top picture is Edwin Chungu. He is one of the gardeners at the shelter and when not gardening helps to look after the children.

The pink building in the background is one of the two boys’ dormitories paid for by Romilly’s generous supporters. Both dormitories are in urgent need of maintenance. Please donate at

Please make a donation at https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

If you have any questions or would like to join Romilly’s supporters please write to jamesforshall@gmail.com

To all Romilly’s kind, generous supporters: Happy Christmas! Happy New Year!

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Meya Mbulo, second from left, and some of the girls at the Chibusa at the FSC shelter Kitwe, Zambia

Thank you. Your donations go to pay for salaries of the staff (not the trustees) at Friends of Street Children (FSC), Kitwe. They are heroic, soldiering on, often in very difficult circumstances. In the fifteen years that Romilly’s has been involved with FSC they have shown great dedication. Without them FSC would be no more than a collection of empty buildings. Through them your donations change the lives of very vulnerable homeless children. The alternative is terrible: on the Streets of Kitwe, homeless children are open to every kind of abuse.

Small regular donations make a huge difference. Just one hundred monthly standing orders of £20/month would cover the staff’s salaries and some of the other expenses. Please make a monthly donation here: https://checkout.justgiving.com/c/3333173

Spread a little warmth with your winter fuel payment. More street children than ever need our support

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Remember that dreadful moment when the teacher summoned you to the blackboard in front of the rest of the class?

The pandemic brought record numbers of street children to the safety of the two shelters in Kitwe. The pandemic has also brought rampant inflation and economic uncertainty and so we are appealing to anyone who receives a Winter Fuel Allowance but does not need some, or all of it, to make a donation so that we can continue to support Friends of Street Children and their mission to help these very vulnerable children.

How to support our Winter Appeal

You can donate some or all of your Winter Fuel Allowance using the donation links below. A donation can make a big difference to these children.

  • £365 will pay the salary of a staff member for three months.
  • £200 will pay for food for ten children for a month
  • £100 will pay to educate three children for a whole year at secondary school.

You can make a donation through Virgin Money Giving here:

https://www.givey.com/romillyforshallfoundation

Water Music II

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Thank you Mia de las Casa for organising the concert; to Johnny May and Fausto Cassar for playing and to Jimmy Moore and Stella Stewart for hosting it on their boat. Thank you all for all the work and energy you put into it, and thank you to all those who gave so generously. Altogether you raised £700. Romilly’s charity transfers £1100/month to pay the salaries of the dedicated, long suffering staff at FSC, a Zambian NGO, who do so much for the very vulnerable street children of Kitwe. FSC would not exist without the generosity of people like you. Thank you.

As you can see, Fausto does not just play at charity concerts, but also at all kinds of events, including weddings. He is classically trained and teaches classical guitar. Telephone 0770975193. Email gabriellecassar@gmail.com

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Stay in touch: If you would like to receive the occasional news letter to let you know about the work being done by Romilly’s Charity and fund raising events, please fill in the contact form below

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