ABC of OCC - K

SP's Alan Cutting took this wonderful picture of
a child in Kyrgyzstan during the 2008 distribution

K is for Kyrgyzstan - which is one of the recipients of the shoeboxes this year. It is a poor, mountainous country with a predominantly agricultural economy. The country has suffered political upheaval and severe ethnic unrest in recent months.

Mountain ranges make it difficult for the team to reach out to parts of the country during winter, particularly in the south, however, last year we were able to send 66,202 shoeboxes to this needy country with the most beautiful children - although it can take up to 20 days for a container to get there.

When Chris Roberts, one of SP's Regional Managers went to Kyrgyzstan in the 2008/09 campaign he met a little girl he could'nt forget.

"Gula is twelve years old and lives with her older brother and baby sister in a small town in Kyrgyzstan. Due to her brother's illness, she takes on her mothers duties when she is out and when we call around with some shoeboxes she is preparing the evening meal. When she starts to open her box and take things out she has her head bowed and becomes very quiet.

'My mother has never been able to buy me things like this,' she says looking up with tears welling up in her eyes. 'She would have if she could'.

"We respond through the translator and she nods, smiling in response. Even as we leave, ten minutes later, it is clear that she is having great difficulty keeping her emotions in check".
Don't forget that you can still make a shoebox via Shoebox World - http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/shoeboxworld/

ABC of OCC - J

The team at Wrexham preparing a load in 2009

J is for journey. The 2010 shoeboxes are on their way from warehouses across the UK; the first load left Melksham bound for Liberia on 12th November.

To prepare the shoeboxes for their journey they are checked and sealed with special Samaritan's Purse tape and carefully packed into cartons. Each carton has the same category of shoebox that is, Boy or Girl in one of the age categories. This information is put on the outside so that our partners overseas can easily identify what the carton contains. This method has been developed over the many years of consulting our partners about what works best for them.

Each load is around 10,000 shoeboxes and strong and able bodied volunteers gather at the warehouses to ensure that the load is packed to ensure the maximum number of shoeboxes are on board - for this reason we don't use pallets as they take up too much valuable space. Paperwork is a vital part of this process so that what is on the truck matched what is on the manifest to ensure smooth passage through customs. Some are put in containers - these are bound for the further flung places such as Swaziland. There is a celebratory feeling as the volunteers load the finished product - always the result of many months hard work.

The shoebox's journey is long and it may take 4 or 5 days to reach a country in Eastern Europe and even longer for a container to get overseas. But they all get there and waiting for them at the other end is an anxious partner ready to deliver them straight into the waiting hands of needy children in his beloved country.

ABC of OCC - I

I is for integrity - Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organisation which is greatly respected in all the countries across the world in which it works. The Operation Christmas Child project is open to people from all walks of life, faith, race and ethnic background and the boxes are given to needy children unconditionally. Over many years Samaritan’s Purse has provided aid to suffering people of many different religions, including Muslims, in countries throughout the world. They do not let their religious beliefs be a barrier; indeed, it encourages them to reach out and help anyone in need of assistance.

Samaritan’s Purse was active in Iraq, providing supplies and equipment to Al-Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad. To quote its director, Dr Mahdi Jasim Moosa, who is a Muslim, interviewed about Samaritan’s Purse: "They were very easy to work with. Please, tell them we're so grateful. They said they would be back - and we hope they come back. Workers with Samaritan’s Purse didn’t preach or attempt to convert people".

It is upsetting sometimes to see that the good work that Samaritans' Purse does is undermined by rumour and speculation by people who hide behind websites to tell their lies. I speak as someone who has seen their good work at first hand and I am always fully comfortable with what SP do. There! off my soap box now...

ABC of OCC - H

H is for Haiti. In the immediate aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Samaritan's Purse sent aid and personnel to help the people rebuild their lives. Over the summer, UK volunteers - experienced and trained for the work - Peter Ivermee from Christchurch and Ralph Springett from Maldon in Essex, went out with SP to work in the hardest hit areas around Cite Soliel. Samaritan's Purse workers are still in Haiti and, in the face of this latest emergency, are among those working to try to prevent the spread of the disease.

Despite the current problems, Peter & Ralph, who run Operation Christmas Child warehouses in their local areas, are gathering thousands of shoeboxes to send to the children of Haiti. It seems fitting in this 20th year of Operation Christmas child that some of the most needy children in the world will again be the beneficiaries of these special boxes of joy. Ralph told me, "The children of Haiti need boxes more than they ever did.". Its not too late to give a shoebox........ http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/

ABC of OCC - G

G is for guns. A real no-no in OCC world....

Most people are aware that Operation Christmas Child started when Dave Cooke saw the plight of Romanian orphans in 1990 - (it is twenty years old this year). But very quickly after that first convoy OCC the charity started to take aid to other countries. In 1992, trucks of aid went to both Croatia and Serbia as the rumblings of a bloody conflict had begun. OCC was born at a time of great need and found itself delivering, not just to neglected children in Romania's orphanages, but also to children traumatised by war.
(photo right: by Phil Dawes, Hull Daily Mail, Bosnia 2003)

Here is a snippet from an early 1993 OCC newsletter:

"Two thousand children had been waiting for six hours in the cold. But that was the least of their worries in the madness of war. They’d been told that ‘packets’ (shoeboxes) were coming for their children and waiting was easy. The boxes had to be smuggled across the river in small boats as the bridge had been blown away. The joy and anticipation was tinged with an air of fear and panic in case a child missed out. The school yard where the children waited in Orsaje had witnessed the death of sixteen children from daily shelling. The team watched as the desperate refugee children received their boxes and ran to their parents shaking with sheer joy. Hardened soldiers put down their weapons and cried as they opened the gifts with their own children. Messages of love, new toys books and crayons appeared from nowhere. The same scenes were repeated right across the former Yugoslavia. Ivan Vacek, one of OCC’s partners said, “These kids have had nothing for so long. This is more important to them than even the food convoys. What a wonderful way to share the message of the first Christmas Child.”

Although that particular conflict is over, we do still deliver shoeboxes to children affected by war, so please, avoid anything to do with the military in the shoeboxes- even camouflage gear.

ABC of OCC - F

F is for Facebook. Hmmm, some of our supporters have wondered why we have an OCC UK page on Facebook with all the reports in the press about cyber bullying, loss of privacy and inappropriate usage on Social Networking sites. I am aware that most people reading this will have come to it via Facebook, but I would ask you to encourage others to visit our site.

When OCC started this year we had around 8,000 followers - we have a staff member now who looks after the OCC Facebook page so it is monitored so that immediate responses to queries can be made. He also keeps an eye on any negative and untrue stories about OCC which appear anywhere on the web which enables us to make a swift correction. The current count of 'friends' on our site is now well over 12,000 and rising everyday. We can count how many people view the comments and all the photos, films and quips are a real encouragement to staff & volunteers alike.

There may be some who use Facebook but don't want to visit our site - who may be (like me) not too sure who can see what. They may think that if they put a comment onto it OCC will be able to view their holiday snaps! It doesn't work like that - but we know that there a some wonderful as yet 'unsung heroes' out there who deserve a mention and Facebook is a great place to talk about their work - not just for their benefit but to give others ideas too. So ask them to visit http://www.facebook.com/occuk or if they won't, take a photo (and with their permission) tell us about the great OCC things that are happening!

An ABC of OCC - E

 E is for efficiency - it is at this time of year that you realised just what a complex event Operation Christmas Child is. This week the boxes will begin to arrive at Drop Off Points and schools where they pile up in brightly coloured mountains in corridors and sports halls. So what happens next? Just HOW do the gifts get from the school into the hands of a needy child?

The answer is the combined efficiency of some very talented and committed volunteers - with a little help from SP staff. For administration purposes, Samaritan's Purse has split the UK into 9 Regions each of which has a Regional Manager who looks after the Area Teams with the Region. The Area Teams are run by and for volunteers and there are around 150 of these teams across the UK. (pictured above the team in Jarrow 2007)

The charity has only a few full time warehouses so Area Teams have to source free premises and set them up as full working warehouses - with all the health and safety factors considered. Tables, chairs, roller trucks, cages pallets all come out of storage from garages, gardens sheds & spare bedrooms. Posters are put up and signing tables set-up. Then they are ready to roll!

The volunteers phone every school, church and organisation who has ordered leaflets to organise the collections. OCC drivers are out in all weathers from very early in the morning and they are very often the last to arrive back to the warehouse and yes, they load each shoebox on and each shoebox off - sometimes hundreds of times. The volunteers at the warehouse check every box to ensure it is right for the country it is going to load them into cartons. When they have enough for a load (around 10,000-although sometime part loads are sent) a truck is ordered from SP's brilliant Logistics Manager. (Pictured right volunteers at Harnham Free Church nr Salisbury)

The overseas partner is alerted that the truck of shoeboxes is on its way and gets their own volunteers ready to unload them the other end. The overseas partner has already identified the children who will get the boxes and events will have been organised for the distribution of the boxes. (left pictured is Nicolai in Belarus - photo Jonty Wilde). So efficient is the OCC that we begin to send our first shoeboxes out the 2nd week in November and well over 1 million are delivered to over 12 countries by January. Amazing!