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2022-08-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 1 Sept 2021 To 31 August 2022

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Opportunity Through Education

Other names charity is known by

Registered charity number (if any) 1179046

Charity's principal address The Long House, Hurtmore Road, Godalming, Surrey.

Postcode GU7 2RB

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

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Name of person (or body)
Dates acted if not for
Trustee name Office (if any) entitled to appoint trustee
whole year
(if any)
1 Alan Lion Trustee
2 Nicola Lion Trustee
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Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

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Name Dates acted if not for whole year
None
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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address Independent Examiner Charles Hume

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document CIO - FOUNDATION REGISTERED 03 JUL 2018

How the charity is CIO constituted

Trustee selection methods

Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of 3 years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

OTE was set up to support the work of Nicki and Alan Lion (“the trustees”), plus the work of two partners, Elizabeth Hodgkin (“Liz”) and Rebecca Mallinson (“Rebecca”). Liz and Rebecca jointly approach the trustees and asked for assistance. Rebecca had previously been supported by another UK registered charity, but, due to the burden of administration involved, that charity had asked Rebecca to try to find another UK registered charity able to support her.

After discussion, the trustees agreed to provide support. The basis upon which OTE supports Liz and Rebecca is contained in a separate document titled:

Section C Objectives and activities

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The objectives of the charity are:

“The relief of poverty with particular emphasis on education for Summary of the objects the young and disadvantaged anywhere in the world.” of the charity set out in its governing document The trustees believe that the provision of education is one very practical way to help people out of poverty and into a worthwhile and sustainable life. The review of activities and highlights below sets out how the work of OTE provides significant benefit to the public.

In terms of finances, OTE enjoyed a record income for the year under review. Funds were boosted by: (a) Some very generous one-off contributions to the work of Rebecca after an appeal for funds (b) The publication of a book by Liz highlighting her work in South Sudan

Summary of the main How these funds have been used is set out later in this report. activities undertaken for the public benefit in In overall terms, income this year was £69,796 (2020: £32,487) relation to these objects and payments to beneficiaries and HMRC amounted to £68,549 (include within this (2020: £32,909). It should be pointed out that HMRC incorrectly section the statutory paid a Gift Aid claim twice. The extra amount received by OTE declaration that trustees was £4,874. When the trustees spotted the error, they arranged have had regard to the for the immediate return of the overpayment. This amount is guidance issued by the included in both the income and payment figures above which Charity Commission on slightly inflates the real position. public benefit)

In its decision making the trustees of OTE are aware of and have complied with their duty to have due regard to The Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance when they have exercised any powers and duties to which the guidance is relevant.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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The trustees wish to thank the following organisations and institutions for their support in the past year:

The Erica Leonard Fund The T W Roberts Trust Moor House School

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

In addition, the trustees wish to thank the many individuals who have so generously supported the work of OTE in the past year. Without such support, the wonderful transformation of some many young people’s lives that has been achieved would never have happened.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

The following represent just some of the people and projects that have been supported by the charity in the period covered by this review:

OTE - Individual Sponsorship For Students

Every student sponsored by OTE is either known to or vetted by the trustees. We seek to help young people who cannot help themselves. We focus on students who are orphans or who have fallen on hard times part way through their education and where it is perceived that there will be considerable benefits if that person is given the opportunity to complete his or her education.

In the period covered by this report, OTE gave assistance to many students. Here are details of three typical examples:

Living Morewa – He is now in his 5th year at medical school. He is a top student and recently won a scholarship to study at a medical school in Holland for 2 months.

Alice Nambeja – Alice graduated with a B.Sc. in July. She is hoping to start a two year accountancy course. However, before she can do that, she needs to earn enough to cover food and rent during the course. Alice is an orphan and, apart from OTE, has no other source of support.

Adam Awesu – He is setting up a tomato and onion business. We had our good friend and Tanzanian farmer, Nicki, assess his proposal. After she felt that it had a good chance of success, we agreed to fund one-third of his start-up costs.

OTE – Grants

Whilst OTE did not make any grants to external charities, the trustees agreed to transfer £1,000 from OTE’s general funds to each of the restricted funds operated by Liz and Rebecca. This transfer recognised the outstanding work of both individuals in bringing education to one of the poorest countries in the world.

Work In South Sudan

Both Liz and Rebecca are committed to helping to support and provide education to disadvantaged children in South Sudan. Since December 2012 an estimated 50,000 South Sudanese have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. South Sudan ranks among the worst in the world in terms of literacy, education and deprivation.

Elizabeth Hodgkin Projects

Here are selected extracts from Liz’s reports to sponsors in 2021-2022:

November 2021 – St Augustine’s School Role And Sponsorship

The student statistics sent by the school always throw an interesting light on the country. The full intake of students this

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Section D Achievements and performance

term is 300 students, 185 boys and 115 girls. The figures for Senior 1 struck me - with 45 girls and 44 boys – the first time I have seen girls outnumber boys. Senior 2 only slightly larger than Senior 1. There are 106 in the form, with 35 girls, so almost exactly a third. In Senior 3 there are 73 students (25 girls) and in Senior 4 only 32 students (10 girls).

OTE is sponsoring 87 students. The school fees have increased, because of inflation from only $30 for full board and lodging per term to $66 per term. Last term because of shortfalls from COVID, fees rose to $90, but we were able to cover them as, at the start of a new academic year, there were fewer students to sponsor. Now 87 students have been approved by the committee for sponsorship and written letters to me.

February 2022 – Well I Never!

When I wrote letters home during the two years teaching in Isohe (2012 and 2013) I was not intending them for publication and I never thought they would be published. However John Ryle, founder and former director of the Rift Valley Institute, has set up an independent publishing house called City of Words. In January it published three books by octogenarians and one of the books is mine. It is not very long and contains my letters from Isohe. Rereading them now, I feel that these letters give a good picture of the wonderful struggle of teachers and pupils to spread education whatever the difficulties. The book is called Letters from Isohe.

July 2022 – Is it worth fighting for what is good? So now, when I think of the purpose of education in a failed state, I think of those whose lives we have changed and who have changed others’ lives. When I asked someone about this purpose, they replied “But one educated person may save a country”. I think of the civil servants and police of Nimule who continue working for nothing, and the teachers of St Augustine who tried to explain to me why they went on teaching for salaries, which, with the collapse of the South Sudanese pound, are pitifully small and often paid several months in arrears. “We were given an education by our teachers,” one told me, at a meeting on my last visit; “we have a duty to give this to the next generation”. I think of boys and girls with good grades, now working in Juba, brick-laying or hair-plaiting, who nevertheless, when asked, say “No, the best choice I ever made in my life was to continue with my education”.

In addition, Liz has continued to support a deaf student from the area, who is attending a specialised school in Uganda, as well as a number of students in higher education.

Rebecca Mallinson Projects

The main focus of Rebecca’s work is Cece Primary School. It is no exaggeration to state that Rebecca has, with the help of her supporters, built this school up from nothing. Rebecca lives there, works there and fights for every child in the school. If you want to read about her inspirational work please visit her blog

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Section D Achievements and performance

site:

https://living-in-nimule.blogspot.com/

Here are selected extracts from Rebecca’s reports to sponsors in 2021-2022:

November 2021 – New Classrooms Started

In spite of my previous pessimism about our prospects for building a new block of classrooms, one of our donors came forward with enough money to start work and lay the foundations. Work has been underway for a week now and is nearly complete. We constructed our previous block of classrooms over the course of around two years, building one classroom at a time. Very likely we will do the same again.

December 2021 – Email Problems

I need to let you know that on 22nd November my email account was hacked.

April 2022 New Registrations and a New School Year

We held registrations in the last two weeks of March, ready for the new school year, which began on 4th April. Last year the school year began in May. My understanding was that each year the school year would shift back until it reached its preCOVID norm of January.

Our school is the only one which does not charge school fees in the Nimule area and quite possibly in the whole country. To give just one example, this year we have an 11 year old girl starting school for the first time. She is an orphan who previously lived with her grandmother but is now working as a live-in babysitter for one of our teachers, who has promised that she will be allowed to study regularly. Hopefully we will be able to help her to progress at an accelerated rate, although this will depend on her level of ability. Across the school the age range is currently from 5 to 18. Fortunately the majority of those of 17 - 18 years old are fast learners and are in the highest two classes.

I am delighted to say that we are in the process of building a much-needed new classroom with a very generous donation from one of our supporters. This will certainly help tremendously, as currently we are having to operate in two shifts in order to have enough classrooms.

May 2022 Feeding Two Hundred And Forty Children - Somehow

Yesterday I called Plan International to ask when they would deliver the next batch of food, as all our food was finished. I was told that because of the crisis in Ukraine, the donors had decided to pull out of South Sudan and focus on feeding the Ukrainian refugees. They hadn’t thought to inform the schools. We are set for another ‘hunger gap’ until we can find a way forward. We now have 240 pupils, so the need is great.

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Section D Achievements and performance

August – Helping The Deaf Hear

Here is an update on the deaf children you sponsor. They are, of course, very much individuals, and two have health problems in addition to their deafness. For all these young people, this schooling is their only opportunity to access education as there are no schools for the deaf in South Sudan, and most are poor almost to the point of destitution. Without the chance of learning sign language, being educated and gaining qualifications they face a life of extreme isolation, prejudice in local society and in some cases lack of care within their own families. This became very clear during the time when the schools in Uganda were shut down due to COVID. Unlike the UK where children go to different class levels according to age, in both South Sudan and Uganda children go to classes according to educational level. Some children start school very late, because of financial circumstances, and many never go to school. In the case of all these deaf children, their disability made it impossible to go to school until the opportunity came.

AND A BIG THANK YOU

None of the above work would be possible without the extremely generous financial support that OTE receives from its many supporters.

“Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers.”

Section E Financial review

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Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

The charity holds limited reserves. It has little or no ongoing expenditure commitments as all the administration is done by volunteers and all administrative costs are currently covered by the trustees. Where OTE is expecting to sponsor a student for a number of years, the trustees may hold a suitable amount in reserve to cover future years’ costs. However, the amounts so retained are relatively small.

As at 31/08/2022 the charity had a total of £5,544 (2020: £4,297) in its bank account.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Not applicable.

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

The charity’s accounts have been produced on a receipts and payments basis. At the year-end, the charity was due Gift Aid from HMRC for the period from 01/06/2022 to 31/08/2022. This amount of Gift Aid (£600) was claimed and received after the end of the period covered by this report. As such it is not included in this year’s accounts.

The charity had no accrued liabilities at the end of this period.

Section F Other optional information

None.

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Signed Electronically Full name(s) Alan Keith Lion Position (eg Secretary, Chair Chair, etc) Date 17th March 2023

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TAR io March 2012

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Charity Name No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Restricted
Total funds
funds funds REB funds LIZ
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Direct Donations 8,920 32,785 13,571 55,276
Virgin Money Donations - - 188 188
Give As You Live 18 - - 18
Income Tax Refund 6,612 6,723 979 14,314
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
15,550 39,508 14,738 69,796
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 15,550 39,508 14,738 69,796
A3 Payments
Payments To Beneficiaries 8,025 41,200 14,450 63,675
Travel Costs - - - -
Bank Fees - - - -
Gift Aid Refund (overpaid) 4,874 - - 4,874
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ 12,899 ] 41,200 14,450 68,549
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 12,899 41,200 14,450 68,549
Net of receipts/(payments) 2,651 - 1,692 288 1,247
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 1,928 2,060 309 4,297
Cash funds this year end 4,579 368 597 5,544
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Unrestricted Restricted
Categories Details funds funds
B1 Cash funds Total cash funds to nearest £
-
-
-
-		 to nearest £
-
-
-
-
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))		 Agreement Error Agreement Error
Unrestricted Restricted
funds funds
B2 Other monetary assets Details to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-		 to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
B3 Investment assets Details Fund to which
asset belongs		 Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
B4 Assets retained for the Details Fund to which
asset belongs		 Cost (optional)
-
charity’s own use -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which Amount due
B5 Liabilities Details liability relates -
-
-
-
-
(optional)
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees		 Signature Print Name
Signed Electronically Alan Lion

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CC16a
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Last year

to the nearest £

24,258 2,450 60 5,719 - - - - 32,487

32,487

32,884 ` 25 - - - - - - 32,909

32,909 - 422 - 4,719 4,297

Endowment funds

to nearest £ - - - - Agreement Error Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - -

Current value (optional) - - - - -

Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional)

Date of approval 17th March 2023

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerfs Report Report to the trusteesl members of Opportunty Through Educats'on On accounts for Ihe year ended 31° August 2022 Charity no Irf any) 1179046 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charty 1.the Trust") for the year ended Responsibilities and As the chanty trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for Ihe preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {'the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Tnjst's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charrty Commission under section 145{5}{b} of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come lo my attention {olher than that disclosed below ') in connection wrth the examination which gives me cause lo believe that in, any material respect". accounting records were not kept in accordance wlth section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord V￿th the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Signed: Date: 15 MAR Z023 Name: Chades Hume, FCA Relevant professional qualification{s) or body lif any>: Address: Piffold Hurtmore Road, Godalming GU7 2RB IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see CC32, Independent examination of tharity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any ilems that the èxarniner wishes to disclose. Sr 15 MAR. 2013 IER October 2018