Hi,

My name is Shreya Panicker and I just turned 10. A lot of children suffered during the pandemic and were robbed of positive learning experiences, both within the UK and abroad.

I am raising money for all the children at Msalura Primary School and for Delight (an Arts based charity in Caterham). The reasons for my choosing these two charities are very different!

As a younger girl, about 5 or 6 I used to really struggle with confidence and being shy both in and outside of the classroom. I was never someone who naturally spoke up or tried to take the lead - I was always safer in my shell. Often worried about new situations I would often get a tummy ache or eat my words. That was before I developed a passion for arts and drama, which helped me develop my self esteem and grew my confidence. I want to give other children the same opportunity.

Delight is a Charity which uses arts to help create self esteem for younger children and helps schools work closely with professional arts organisations. Any money we can raise can go towards Delight working with more children and schools in our local community to help them create more positive learning. Delight organised activities include visits to galleries, libraries, Shakespeare productions and role plays in the woods. Every penny we raise is going to help hundreds of children.

Msalura primary school in Malawi is a partner school of Essendene Lodge (where I go to school!). Already deprived of what we take for granted, children in Malawi were further impacted by COVID -19.

I want to raise money to help the disadvantaged children who don’t have all the luxuries and education that we take for granted. We all love going to school, learning and seeing our friends everyday. That isn't an option or a choice for so many children in the world. By raising money we are helping children go to school to get an education and learn skills to have a better life. Any money we can raise will help more children complete a primary school education, have clothes to wear and even give them clean water to drink and food to eat.

To raise the money, I was inspired by one of my favourite authors, David Walliams who swam across the English Channel in 2006. As I have only just turned 10 I won’t be able to do this in one go and in the Channel so I am going to do it over the summer break in a pool. The Channel is 21 miles which is the same as 34 km. So will need to swim 1km a day every day for 34 days.

I really hope I have convinced you to help all the children who need it. It would be really amazing if you could support and donate for these great causes!

If you would like to track my daily progress please follow me on my mum's Instagram and Facebook accounts @drawwithpex

Here are the links to both causes if you would like to learn more about them.

http://delightcharity.org.uk/

https://kusamala.org/services/consultancies/msalura-primary-school/

Wish me luck, love Shreya x