Sponsored Walk

We are really looking forward to Saturday, and participating in the Sponsored Walk with Laura and Jen. The walk starts at 12:30 and everyone involved will be sponsored to walk from Falkirk Wheel to Linlithgow. We're not really sure about the distance but it doesn't matter because we will still do it!

We have some new members who are really encouraging and are helping bring new ideas to the group.

NEWS-FLASH
Aaron Hazel has come back form his holiday and has been fundrasingtastic. Oh and also his hair is growing back, Aaron has single-handedly raiseed £130 after shaving his head to raise money for Sangita orphanage, in India. His money and constant compassion has a huge influence on all of the pupils here in our school.

That brings our total to £2600. Come on guys we want to get £3000 HELP US OUT! As you know we recently donated £2000 of that money to Dwelling Places Children's home in Uganda. The rest of the money wil be divided between Sangita orphanage in India and Raising up Hope for Uganda in.....come on, work it out!

K so if you want to participate in the walk then please get in touch with us! Love, hugs and oodles of happiness

Carlie, Sage and Fiona x

Enjoying where we are on the way to where we are going...that's the rest of the world by the way for those who haven't heard us squeal! x

10 weeks and counting!!That’s right, 10 weeks until Laura and Jenn set out on the second Soultouch trip! The second soultouch journey however has long begun. The summer was a time jam packed with preparation for both of us in many ways. Jenn spent the summer in Ireland working with children affected by serious illness, learning and growing in ways she never thought possible every day. Back in Scotland Laura was busy organising and holding several fundraising events to raise money to fund the trip and raising support throughout the St. Andrews church community, friends and family.

But now we are back together in Scotland we are slowly but surely seeing the trip becoming a reality! Vaccinations are being given, funds are being raised and ever organised Laura has even started collecting the things she will be packing (Jenn however is waiting for Laura to organise this for her as she is a terrible last-minute packer which may not suit such a mammoth trip!). However, flights still need booked before final dates for visits can be confirmed, but this is in the process of happening and will hopefully be done soon so we can get in touch with all the beautiful hosts we will be visiting!

We are both so excited for the trip to start, and although we are currently running around like headless chickens trying to organise everything right now, we both strongly believe it is all completely within the will of God and can see blessings at every stumbling point. We feel so very grateful for all the prayers we know we receive from so many amazing people supporting soultouch, and we know that this will take us much further than any amount of money ever could.

We therefore want to thank all of you who are prying for and supporting us in our work and ask you to please continue to do so as without this soultouch would be nothing. As if 4 squeeling, crazy, ditzy young girls could find their way to the local shop, let alone around the world if it wasn’t for being carried by their Father! We will be posting much more regular updates on our progress with preparations up until we leave in January, from which point the tales of long smelly bus journeys will no doubt begin!!

Thanks again

Jenn and Laura
xxx
Soultouch 2010

PS. Forgot to say, we will be doing a 10 mile sponsored walk for soultouch on 14th Nov. and if anyone would like to sponsor us they can do so online at
http://www.facebook.com/l/3cd75;www.sanctusmedia.com/shop/donations/10-donation-to-soultouch.html

You Are Invited!

Dear Valley FM and fellow Soul Touchers, Lorna, Jenn, Laura and Albert,

You are invited to an
afternoon of cultural celebration

Wallace High School
Date: 28th October
Time: 4pm—5pm

International Guest speaker: Rita Nkemba (Uganda)
International Guest: Naomi Ngwira (Malawi)

Over the past few months we have enjoyed learning
about, and partnering with, Dwelling Places Children’s
home in Uganda. We would like to share this
experience with you.

With regards,
Soul Touch

RSVP
Wallace High School
01786 462166 (Miss Bonnar/Soul Touch Group)

Water Challenge

Water challenge finishes tommorow:) so lets finish with a splash (yeah yeah we know thats cheesy but miss b told us to write it). We would like to thank all the Pupils and Teachers who took part, ither for the month or however long you have decided to do it. It is gratley appreciated.

fiona & jo:)

Apples :)

Today at lunch, the Uganda group cut up apples (how nice of us) to give/sell to puipils/teachers as random acts of kindness.
by Fiona & Jo

Launch Success!

Launch Success

This week, at Wallace High School we launched our Water Challenge with a splash! The challenge is to drink water. The cause is Uganda and India and the result will be changing live. Pupils and staff are being sponsored to drink water. Sounds simple given that we live in Scotland where we have lots of clean water but as many of us have discovered, it’s really challenging. Participants must substitute all refreshments for water. Between the 1st September and the 1st of October we are cutting out all fizzy drinks, teas, fruit juices and any other refreshments and instead sticking to water. We hope that this will not only improve our concentration in class and help us stay healthy but it will also raise lots of money for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Today (04.09.09) we had an extremely successful day, which included us presenting an assembly to our school which raised awareness of the injustices that exist around the world. Some very brave Senior pupils (Stuart Mcallum, Thomas Nelson, Gary Ryan and James Chalmers) were sponsored to wax their legs and Aaron Hazel astounded us all with his bravery and selflessness by having his head shaved. There was a lot of hard work and effort put in as we held our own Britain’s Got Talent for the teachers, which we appropriately named “Teachers’ Got Talent”.

There was a huge turnout and there has been an estimated £300 raised…so far! The show kicked off with Mr Niven and Mr Keith who became our very own Stavros Flatley. Some of the other highlights of the show were: The P.E department who juggled their way around the stage dressed as circus acts; Miss Sweet, Mrs Sinclair and Mrs Stewart who bemused us with their “sewing” before Mr Kirkpatrick and Mr Rough (and Michael Glass, S6)

entertained us with their very own rendition of “That’s Not My Name”, which was jumping. Later we were joined by Susan Boyle (Mr Payne) and to end the show we finished with our very own Miss Bonnar, accompanied by Mr Winton, who was extravagantly brilliant at singing “Hallelujah”. Our judges were fabulous and we’re sure the performers appreciated the constructive criticism and support. Thank you Mrs Horsburgh, Mr Bryce and Mr Fulton.

To everyone who donated to our charitable event, thank you so much, and huge congratulations to all of the Soul Touch group for your effort and commitment to “being the change”.

Love and thanks,

Carlie Campbell and Aleisha Donaldson

Well Done! Well Done! Well Done!

Well done everyone! Today was another wonderful example of how together we really are better! Your commitment to demonstrating compassion and energy for administering justice really is breathtaking! I am soooooooooooooo proud of you all. I have no words to articulate the full extent of my gratitude to you for making our bake sale, leg waxing extravaganza, head shaving frenzy and today's Teachers' Got Talent such amazing successes. You inspire me and everyone who has the joy of hearing your passion for this cause! You are changing lives, attitudes and mindsets as well as raising money! I know that today people's eyes were opened to the injustice that you've seen and heard about but more importantly you managed to touch their hearts. You spoke so genuinely and sensitively about people and children who are dear to my heart, thank you!

Well done to everyone! Well done to Andrew, Aaron, Zianab and Charlotte who managed to express what all of us wanted to say. Also to Donald and Bronagh who got the show on the road and encouraged everyone to support the staff. Ok so there really are so many people I have to thank but really to you the team: THANK YOU AND WELL DONE!

Have a wonderful weekend drinking water! I'll see you Tuesday and we'll have a wee celebratory water together on Wednesday lunchtime! Miss B x

Water Challenge!

Hi, hi, hi! It has been a long time since we’ve been in touch but that time has certainly been well spent! Mini Soul Touchers at Wallace High School have been baking, planning, rehearsing and persuading (more about that later) in order to make their fundraisers a huge success.

Many of the young people at Wallace got involved in Soul Touch during our “Challenge Days” and as many of them have testified the challenge was much more profound than they had initially anticipated. Hence the reason the challenges have never really ceased and the group (who now go by the name of Mini Soul Touchers, The Uganda Group, Generally Wonderful, Superdooperly amazing individuals as well as other things) are still continuing to challenge themselves and their peers.

Staff have also become involved, mainly due to the fact that they too have been inspired, as I have, by the enthusiasm, dedication and commitment of these young people to make a difference.

Friday was fun for all. It was the start of our awareness raising campaign- raising awareness of injustices that exist but more importantly how prevalent and effective we can be in our attempts to correct it if we work together. The group, with the help of some wonderfully generous staff and parents, organised a bake sale. Pupils munched their way through a selection of scrumdiddlyumtious treats raising an amazing £149.29 to be divided between their chosen partners (see previous blogs for more detail).

Today marked the official start of THE WATER CHALLENGE! Pupils and staff are being sponsored to drink water. Sounds simple given that we live in Scotland where we have oodles of clean water but the challenge is…well…challenging. Participants must substitute all refreshments for water. From today (1st Sept) until the 1st of October pupils will cut our all fizzy drinks, teas, fruit juices and any other refreshments and instead stick to water.

It has been such a joy to hear how enthusiastic pupils are and how determined they are to raise as much money as they can. More encouraging however than any monetary contribution is the effort they are making to “BE THE CHANGE”. It’s a great way to detox, clear up pimples and to raise awareness of the fact that over 70% of the world’s population do not have access to clean drinking water. Instead children are forced to drink from dirty water supplies: rivers, puddles and even gutters, not to quench thirst but TO SURVIVE. Pupils from Wallace High School recently linked up with friends in India and in Uganda, countries where for the majority of the population clean water can only be sourced by walking several miles to the nearest well. If you would like to join us in our efforts to “BE THE CHANGE” please get in touch!

Finally I cannot finish without thanking and congratulating (in advance) the team for all the organisation they have put into organising the festivities for Friday. This Friday some wonderfully brave S5/6 boys have volunteered to get waxed in order to raise money for Sangita orphanage. The pupils: Aaron Hazel, James Chalmers and Gary Ryan immediately volunteered to having their legs waxed when the boys heard from friends in India who were struggling to complete construction work on their orphanage. Ever since the boys have been recruiting support and sponsorship and have even managed to persuade some other brave friends to get waxed! Aaron is going one further and having his head shaved! It’s a wonderful effort boys and such a generous act of selflessness! Well done, I know it will be a huge success!

Finally…as if that wasn’t enough. We will end the week with “Teachers’ Got Talent”. We are blessed at Wallace to have incredibly generous and hugely supportive staff, many of whom have volunteered (been persuaded) to participate. I’m sure it will all be caught on camera…watch this space!

Please, please, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and to get involved! We so appreciate your support and truly believe that “together we are better”.

Love, thanks and every blessing Miss B (Erica) x

Keeping you all up to date!

Hey everyone,
We have been up to lots in the past few days and have been working extremely hard for the launch of The Water Challenge.
On Friday, we are having a bake sale and leg waxing at interval, along with a number of other events at lunch including Teachers Got Talent! Right now we are putting together a list of staff to perform in the show- we really appreciate all your support.

Lots of love,

The Mini Soul Touchers xxx

We're Back!

Hi Guys,
After a long, wonderful, busy but not so hot summer we are back at Wallace and are really pleased to announce that the Uganda/ Soul Touch group are back to work! We are as busy as ever organising the launch of our Water Challenge, which is set to start on the 1st of September.

For those of you who have not heard about it (where have you been?) The Water Challenge is one of our planned fundraisers that we are doing to raise funds for our friends in Uganda and India.

We are currently organising a launch party on Friday the 28th of this month (August!) in school and we would love to encourage all staff and pupils to take part. So far a cake sale is one of the highlights as well as leg waxing, head shaving, hook a duck and possibly a sponge the teacher but we'll have to get some volunteers for that!

So we're just letting you know what's going on and would really appreciate all your support. If you have any bright ideas then please get in touch. We are looking forward to making a change to the lives of others in Uganda and India but also to our school. We have an opportunity to be the change!

Love, hugs and lots of excitement
The Mini Soul Touchers x

Hello Soultouch viewers, justs another note to show you our enjoyment of our fundraising. Here are some pictures of our soultouch group.

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday, enjoying the sunshine and taking a well-earned break after the extremely busy (amazingly productive) end of term challenge days!

I am really encouraged to see that many of you have been keeping the blog active with comments and kinds words to one another, I know that many people admire the blog and all the work you are putting in to keeping it up to date in preparation and anticipation of the Water Challenge launch!

Thanks to our friends from the Valley Fm Radio station in Bo’ness who gave us a shout out. Thanks Sam, Larissa and Abz! We really enjoyed your visit to the school and I personally was so proud of all the interviews the pupils at Wallace High gave; they sounded amazing on the radio!

With this superdooper link in mind I want also to invite you all to meet up. Lilias is running a trip to Alton Towers on Tuesday and has asked me to invite all of the Wallace High Soul Touch team! I have more details of the trip and consent forms so please start blogging if you would like to be part of it! We leave at 1am Tuesday and return 1am Wed morning! The cost is £45 (you can pay this in instalments if you wish).

It is an awesome opportunity to get to know other young people who share the same interests and are experienced in “being the Change”! You guys have also so much to contribute and I’m sure the valley FM team will be hyped by all the work you’ve put in to Soul Touch so far…

Ok, so before I babble on for Scotland all that’s left to say is Happy Holidays. Thank you…for caring, for making an effort to support people other than yourselves and for impacting so many lives by living yours right! You amaze me!

Hope to see you Tuesday!

Ps bring earplugs…because I’m terrible on roller coasters!

Love, thanks and blessings in abundance Miss B x

Air Waves!

"Get caught in the wave" is what's aptly woven across our “Soul Touch/Ugandan” notice board at school and that is exactly what is happening: the pupils at Wallace High School have literally started a wave of enthusiasm and excitement that is sweeping across schools, churches, homes and individuals around the world, motivating and encouraging others to make a difference and to “BE THE CHANGE”!
I can proudly say that I have had another awesome weekend full of praise and thanks for the young people at Wallace High School and Bo’ness Academy/ St Andrew’s church. Last week the two forces got together for the first time since meeting over video conferencing on skype. The gorgeous crew from Bo’ness were invited to visit Wallace High on Friday and so after kindly accepting the invitation they gave up their time to come and interview our team.














The interviews were fantastic, packed full of information about organisations Dwelling Places and Raising up Hope for Uganda. After some nerve-racking recording the takes were edited and then aired live across the airwaves on Valley FM this morning. This has allowed more and more people to hear about the awesome work of these organisations from the voices of the young people who are committed to supporting them.


So, well done teams (in Stirling and Bo’ness) and an especially huge THANK YOU to Lilias who co-ordinates, plans, prepares, eats, sleeps and breathes working with these young people...you are amazing!

Guys, you are an example to us all that together we really are better and that united we can accomplish so much more. Also lots more exciting texts and emails have come in from people who have heard about the Water Challenge and want to become involved. Miss McHale, in Leeds, has been in touch to say her pupils have already downloaded the sponsor sheet and are taking up the challenge starting… tomorrow!

Finally I’d like to give a huge shout out to Tim and Annette Gulick, in Argentina. You guys are such a huge encouragement to Lorna and I and now to all of the young people we are working with. Thank you, we love you!

So guys, we have one week left of term to get everything ready for the “Water Challenge launch, which is taking place the first week back after summer! Keep up all the hard work and the momentum. You started the wave, invited others to get caught in it and now you have to roll with it!

It’s HUGELY exciting!
Love and blessings Miss B x
ps...what do you mean you're not allowed to eat in the studio?

Wallace High Goes Over The Airwaves :)

Today we met pupils from Boness High School, who have thier own radio station, Valley FM, run by St Andrews Church. They came to interview us for their radio show on Sunday. They asked us about our Challenge Week and the Ugandan Experience. We told them about the blog, the Water Challenge and our Skype link-ups with Uganda, India and Boness.

It is amazing that they have taken the time out to come and visit and interview us. The whole group is really lovely, even though we all got nervous when it was our turn to speak. Thanks very much guys! :)


Please listen to the show, Sunday from 12 - 2, at www.valleyfm.org.uk :)

Welcome Miss MacHale!

Dear Miss MacHale and all of her pupils. Miss Bonnar has told us about your enthusiasum about THE WATER CHALLENGE! We would be very happy to include you in this years WATER CHALLENGE as we want it to be a great and successful event and we want are excited about the opportunity for it to go nationally. Thank you for participating in THE WATER CHALLENGE 2009. If you have any questions we would be happy to answer them and are really excited your invlved.
Lots of love,
Donna and Caitlin on behalf of Soul Touch, Wallace High School xx

H2 0o0o0o0o0o

Hi guys,

Just to let you know that Mr MacRae at Highland Spring has generously donated 300 bottles of water for our launch day! This is just the beginning...it's going to be huge!

Hope you're all well and ready for the meeting tomorrow at lunchtime, 1.15 in Miss Bonnar's room L103.

See you there, bring your lunch and your ideas!

Carlie

Good Morning Mini Soul Touchers, I hope you've all recovered and have had some good, well earned, rest after a busy week of challenges! I am going to announce the Water Challenge at my church (St Andrew's church, Bo'ness www.standonline.org.uk) tomorrow morning and I am hoping that some of the people there and the youth team with take part in the Water Challenge! I've got my whole family signed up...although not all of them know it yet!

Carlie and the advertising team still have some letters to send out on Monday. Any ideas you can contribute or help you can give her with that is very much appreciated! We will meet at lunchtime!

Some of us stayed at school after the bell yesterday and spoke to more of the children from Dwelling Places Children's Home. They had beautiful smiles and are already expressing lots of love and thanks for all the help you are giving them. Just knowing that you are thinking about them really makes a difference to their lives! They asked me to say a huge "thank you" to you all!

Also Rita Nkemba, the founder of Dwelling Places, extends a huge thank you and is looking forward to meeting you all in October when she is in Scotland.

Have a great weekend, Miss B x

To Mrs Dawson,
Thank you so much for the lovely card you gave us. We much appreciate it. We are so far really enjoying the things we are learning! We hope that we can make a difference this week as it would mean a lot to us and we are glad that you are doing that too. The Ugandan children would be very happy to hear that you are giving them money to help change their lives. Thank you again, we really appreciate it! 

From Caitlin, Ashleigh and Donna xxx

Paul And Family

Hi Paul its James and Aaron at Wallace high, we spoke to you yesterday! We would just like to say it was nice to hear from you. You have a beautiful family nice to see a picture of them. We are inspired by all the work that you and your wife have done with the orphanage. It is a privilege to know that we are helping other people who are less fortunate than us and it is nice to know that we are not the only people helping them .We are trying to raise money by doing a water challenge for Uganda but Aaron, Gary and I would personally like to help Sangita orphanage and are going to wax your legs and Aaron's shaving his head bald for to raise money too.

We thank you for all the work you do for the children.

You are the CHANGE!

Soul Touch would like to extend a huge thank you to James Chalmers and Aaron Hazel who have been helping us this week! You boys keep our spirits high and have so much enthusiasm for the work in Uganda. It is inspiring!

I personally would like to thank you for encouraging ALL of the younger pupils. Your input has been invaluable. You have really worked hard to bring the team together and keep new members up to date with what’s going on. I know Patrick will have appreciated all your comments! Well done with hosting and managing the live link ups and organizing the questions for our discussion with India! It’s been a great week…and the best is yet to come!

Well done also to Megan, Blair and Dale who joined our team late but have managed to make a really valuable contribution already! We appreciate your efforts, thank you!

Thank you also to Mrs Henderson for you efforts with the card making team, I’m sure the staff will love their personalized invites when they get them and will all be willing to take up the challenge! Finally to everyone, keep up the good work.

Team, you are fantastic! Make sure you keep up to date with everything that’s going on and let people know what your group has achieved by posting it on the blog. The notice board, leaflets, sponser forms, flyers and presentations are all outstanding! Go Wallace!

A huge WELL DONE and thanks from a very proud Miss B! x

Patricks Letter

Hi Patrick,
We heard about your story.
you are an insperation to society and to all of us.

We would like to find out more about your orphanage .
We would like to know about what you will do in the future.
How many people are in your orphanage?
What kind of activities do you do at the ophanage?
We are looking foward to hearing from you lots of love from Blair James And Aaron.

Message from Emma and Olivia :)

Hello from Wallace High!

It's Olivia and Emma here!




We have achieved a lot today, we have been making posters to help promote out 'Water Challenge' which is running from the 1st of Semptember 'til the 1st of October. We know not all people are fond of water, and we undertsnad this, so we have changed the rule to 'flavoured water also', we hope this encourages people to feel more comfortable whilst taking part in the Water Challenge.

The posters are all handmade by us (of course!) and various senior girls helped us with their creative ideas! We would like to give a shout out to the girls saying 'Thank you for all your help, you all made the poster that extra bit special, we couldn't have done it without you!' The posters are now ALL AROUND the school, and they are looking fab!

THANK YOU TO IRENE! FOR LETTING US USE THE PHOTOCOPIER AND USING LOTS OF YOUR A3 PAPER, WE PROMISE IT HAS NOT GONE TO WASTE, AND HAS GONE TO A GOOD CAUSE! THANKS! :)

Our motto is ' THE CHALLENGE: Drink water, THE CAUSE: Uganda, THE RESULT: Saving lives!' :)




Thank you for all the supportive comments, they really help us to keep you all posted and inspire about what we are doing! Thank you all! We will keep you updated tomorrow! We hope you are all proud of our work, we are!

Thank you to Miss Bonnar also, she has been fantastic!

x

Lorna ..... We Love You! xx

Lorna,

We just wanted to take the chance to tell you how much we appreciate all the work you've done. We would love to meet you, anytime you wish. Miss Bonnar has told us so much about you, and you're an inspiration to each and every one of us here at Wallace High and every one else around the world. We've also heard a lot about when you and Miss Bonnar were travelling and its sounds amazing. We hope to travel around the world and visit less fortunate coutries too, but when we're a little bit older. Even though you're not here, we just wanted to say that we love you so much, you've made such an achievement with Soul Touch. Thankyou so much for all your support and encouragement. We Love You! x

Hope to here from you soon,
Carlie and Rebecca xx

Water Challenge Sponsor Form!

This is a copy of the sponsor form for the Water Challenge.
It will work best if you click on the image so it is enlarged. Then highlight and copy the whole enlarged image into a word document, to print.





Front.



Back.

Wallace High School WoW the world!

Wallace High School Soul Touchers you amaze me! What a wonderfully productive day we had yesterday, you all worked so hard to make progress on the Water Challenge and everyone is commenting already on how professional and enthusiastic you all have been.

I would personally like to thank all of my team, especially the seniors who have been helping put everything together! We couldn’t do this without you.

Anyway lots still to do. This is just the beginning of amazing things to come. Have a great day and remember you really are changing lives.

It is a privilege to be part of all this with you. Go for it: BE THE CHANGE!

Lots of thanks and oodles of excitement Miss B x

ps we have our India link up with Lilias and the guys at 12 noon so make sure you have all your questions ready and you are looking smart! x

India Link Up!

We have just spoken to Lillas, Stacy and Mhairi from Bo'ness! They went to India , it sounded so amazing and very worth while. They helped alot of people while over there. They spent a year fund raising to make sure they could go over there. Stacy is doing a psychology degree at the moment, and while over in India she was offered to go back for 6 months and further her degree, as it would be very useful for her to help over there. They also have a radio station, which the youth in Bo'ness run, DJ and organise (with the help of Lilias!) and it would be very useful and really fun for everyone to tune in , it runs from 17th june to the 27th, 7am-12pm - www.valleyfm.org.uk

We'll be listening!!! You gotta give some shout outs for the water challenge 'n' get all the Bo'nessians involved! Laura at Deanburn says she's up for the challenge....we're excited to hear that!

We really loved speaking to you guys, you have been an inspiration to us all, and hope to be speaking to you soon