Creative Emporium Blog

On the 27th of September fund raisers raised themselves (to 269 foot) at one of Leeds’ tallest towers. It was all part of the Opal Africa charity abseil which was run in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham.

In total 268 abseilers were involved on a special and memorable day with musical entertainment and refreshments for abseilers and their supporters.

Creative Emporium were able to supply and donate the brightly coloured printed t-shirts for the abseilers and marshals which helped them raise a rising tally of £40,000. The money raised will fund the construction of a borehole in South Omo, Ethiopia, and supply safe water for 60,000 people for life.

Opal Foundation’s Avril Portch thanked us by saying “a big thank you for the support and donation your company gave to The Opal Foundation Abseil on behalf of Opal Africa. The money raised will undoubtedly save many lives, and your generosity has played a big part”

There were some amazing stories emerging from the day from Opal staff, residents and business partners taking part: 14 year old Beth Sant and her mother Karen Goodall and Opal resident Jade Majid and her father Oscar added to the family atmosphere of the event. Beth and family friend Charlie Henderson had volunteered to help at the event and after watching others complete the abseil, Beth took the opportunity to become the youngest abseil participant nationwide.

The Opal Foundation is working with AMREF to build the borehole. AMREF are a reputable African based charity with over 50 years experience of working with local communities to develop effective sustainable projects which the community owns. The Opal Foundation wishes to improve access to safe water in one of the most deprived areas of the world, South OMO, Ethiopia. For example, less than 7% of the population have access to safe water and child mortality is greater than 190 deaths per 1000 live births.

Find out more about The Opal Foundation here.