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| Charity Trustee, Helen Bolton |
Helen grew up in a small town, just to the north of Manchester,
England. Even before setting up S.A.L.V.E. International, Helen was greatly involved in charity work. At the age of 16, she
ran her first charity event; a concert which raised over £1000 for her church's new hall. Whilst at school she headed the
Charity Committee, running and supervising many charity events, including the dispatch of hundreds of Christmas parcels to
refugee camps in Africa. From school, Helen went on to The University of Durham where she studied her great love English Literature,
gaining a 2:1. But of course, university life also brought with it many more opportunities for charity work and Helen raised
money by scaling the heights of The Three Peaks Challenge, co-ordinated fundraising events for her hockey club, and in her
free time offered her services collecting money for a number of different charities including Christian Aid.
After
completing university, Helen gained a TEFL teaching qualification and set off to see the world. Her first stop was a voluntary
placement in Vietnam where she spent her days teaching English in a Hanoi primary school. Once her time here had ended, Helen
jumped on the back of a motorbike and headed through jungle and paddy field as she made her way south through the country,
marking the beginning of her extensive travels throughout Asia.
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| Helen with Mike and some of the S.A.L.V.E. children. |
It was the trip of a lifetime and it brought unforgettable sights, whether from
the back of an elephant as she explored the jungle or from a bobbing sampan as she looked onto the bright lights of Hong Kong
from Victoria Harbour. But there were other sights that were equally unforgettable; horrific scenes of degradation that Helen
would never forget. As she entered Cambodia she was met with the shocking remnants of Pol Pot's regime. She saw a government
who ploughed money into luxury hotels whilst a generation of landmine victims was left to pick through streets filled with
sewage. The more she traveled, the more she realised that these were scenes repeated in countless countries all over the world.
These sights never left her, and knowing she had to try and do something, they became the inspiration for her eventual trip
to Africa.
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| Helen working at Welcome Home Orphanage in Jinja. |
Helen currently finds herself in Jinja in eastern Uganda where she is working at
an orphanage as Lead Volunteer for local NGO, Rejoice Outreach International. Whilst volunteering at the home, she once again
finds herself teaching and also working with local women's empowerment groups and school social education clubs. During her
time in Uganda, Helen has worked at two further orphanages on a regular basis, but is now putting her efforts towards setting
up S.A.L.V.E. International. Helen is very excited about the prospects of S.A.L.V.E., a charity that she believes could change
the lives of hundreds of children all over Uganda. S.A.L.V.E. has a huge amount of potential for expansion, and Helen hopes
that the charity will continue to move forward, bringing her dreams of an education for all one step closer.
If you
would like to contact Helen, please email: helen@salveinternational.org
Back to Meet Our Team
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© 2008 SALVE International
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