London, 6 March 2018

Week Three: Pledges received of £51,270. Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leonean author, to support with fund-raising private reading.

 

Dear Supporters of ProjectBo,

You continue to be amazing. In just three weeks, pledged donations have reached £51,270 of which over £33,000 is already in the bank.

We were about to order the batteries at the beginning of last week when we received an extraordinary offer of free batteries from an innovative battery company. Obviously this would have a huge impact on the economics of the project, since the batteries make up £28,000 of the total expected cost. We decided to put the battery order on hold for a few days so we could evaluate the offer: we have to be sure that the technology (which is lithium based rather than lead-based) will work, that the company can deliver on time, and that we won’t run into problems with shipping (some countries categorise lithium batteries as a fire risk).

Simon Willans of Energy for Opportunity has been in close contact with the manufacturer and it is looking good. We should know within the next few days. We have decided we will continue shooting for the full £100,000 target whether or not we get the free batteries. That way we will have flexibility in case anything goes wrong, and we have no doubt we can find a good use for any excess raised, in line with the goals of Project Bo.

An evening with best-selling Sierra Leonean author - Ishmael Beah

The other big news is that Ishmael Beah has offered to do a reading from his books on behalf of Project Bo. Ishmael is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist, who documented his experiences as a child soldier in his first book, Long Way Gone. He has also authored a novel called Radiance of Tomorrow. Ishmael will be in London at the end of this month, and he has blocked out the evening of Sunday 25^th for us.

We are looking for a venue suitable for 100-150 people, and will get back to you with details as soon as we have done so. In the meantime please 'Save the Date' and alert potential donors. We think we can target fund-raising of £10,000 on the night.

So expect lots of news next week: more on the batteries, perhaps the solar panel order, and details of the Ishmael Beah fundraising reading.

What you can do to help:

• Do you have a potential venue for the Ishmael Beah event on 25 March? Do let us know at info@projectbo.org
• Share this campaign with your network – www.projectbo.org
• Put us in touch with any suggestions for potential donors or routes to raise awareness, at info@projectbo.org
• Click here to tweet your support for #ProjectBo

So, whether you are a generous donor, a fund-raising marathon runner or a spirited tweeter - thank you for being a part of Project Bo!

The #ProjectBo Team