An eight-year-old Lympstone girl who has raised more than £3,000 for Refugee Support Devon has been thanked by the charity for her ‘amazing’ achievement.
Betsy Salt initially set out to raise £300 by swimming five kilometres at a local pool during February, but she hit her target within two weeks and kept going, eventually completing 9.6km and raising £3,225.
Her fundraising challenge was inspired by a book about a young Syrian refugee arriving in Britain, called The Boy at the Back of the Class. The book’s author Onjali Q Rauf has now heard about her mission and given a donation, as well as spreading the word via Twitter.
On Thursday, February 24, Betsy and her mother Gemma visited Refugee Support Devon’s Exeter drop-in centre where Betsy was presented with a certificate and a book token to buy another inspirational work.
The charity’s chair Jenny Longford told her: “What you’ve done is absolutely amazing. It helps us to carry on with our work with refugees from across the world.”
Betsy said she had read Onjali Q Rauf’s book with her mother. It describes how the young Syrian has become separated from his family but is befriended by three classmates who help to reunite them.
On her Total Giving crowdfunding page she says: “ I now know a lot more about the difficult times refugees have been through and the beauty of friendship.”
She told Refugee Support Devon: “I love to swim, It relaxes me, it is my passion. And it’s wonderful what RSD is doing.”
During her visit she also had several questions for the charity about its work, which were answered by Jenny.
“When did RSD start?” “2001, so we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year.”
“How many people have you helped?” “Something like 1,800 over the past 20 years.”
“What countries do refugees come from?” “Over 40 countries, with the main ones being Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan.”
“How do you teach English?” “We have over 30 volunteers, working in groups or one-to-one.”
Betsy was shown a book that is used by RSD to teach refugee children their first words of English, with the title Welcome to the UK.
For more information on RSD’s work, visit their website
Read more about Betsy's fundraising here:
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