The opportunity to partner with Enjoolata Foundation has been completely transformational for Conversation Over Borders. It enabled us to hire our first staff, flourish from one project to four and reach hundreds of new clients as we grew.

The early investment, firm belief in our values and mission and personal support from the Enjoolata Team has allowed us to bloom as an organisation.

However, the value of being an Enjoolata partner extends so much further than financial support; it is part of a welcoming, supportive community, a wellbeing-focused team who genuinely wants the best for us, and a network of like-minded organisations to inspire, collaborate and strengthen us.

The grant we received from the Enjoolata Foundation meant that we achieved three times the impact we had made the previous year. It enabled us to successfully redistribute thousands of free and low-cost school uniforms across Brighton and Hove, much needed by families due to the current cost of living crisis.

Below is also a quote about us from one of the community organisations East Brighton Food Coop (Enjoolata partner) who we worked with to provide free uniforms. We were thrilled to receive it:

“It’s the best scheme I have seen in many years. Keep up the great work and many many thanks from all the parents & children you have helped.”

The Crew Club is very lucky to have Enjoolata support part of our Safe Start project. We feel Enjoolata is a funder that likes to build relationships with those they fund. This results in us feeling much more connected to them.

The Enjoolata Foundation has opened up so many opportunities for our community at Brighton Table Tennis Club, and our young players in particular. The relationship functions on so many layers and is a truly interpersonal one. As well as financial help, they have given their time to really get to know our work through visits, conversations and networking and this genuine and pro-active interest is encouraging and empowering.

Our young people and those they have helped are more than case studies to Enjoolata; they are real lives who will thrive on guidance and investment despite some difficult circumstances. Activity, passion and fun are core to our projects and the Enjoolata team bring their energy and commitment to help us.
Some of their team have signed up to AllStars TT and are well on their way to a milestone t-shirt.

Every ambitious and disruptive start-up needs partners like Enjoolata. Having embraced our mission to empower young people in East Africa through a new type of network, their generosity, trust and support have helped to move us miles ahead. We are deeply grateful to have Enjoolata among our friends and partners and look forward to the impact that we can jointly celebrate.

I have asked one of our participants who is on the steering committee to sum up what the project means to him. He has experience of prison and homelessness, and he said:

“The memorial project gives everyone involved, especially those who have been homeless, the opportunity to express their grief and loss. It also gives others who may not have had the same experience some enlightenment as to the lives of those they see in doorways every day. It will ultimately serve as a vehicle for education and understanding”.

“Sewing is a language in itself and new materials and threads enable the voices of our women to be heard as well as providing much needed resources to make pretty clothes and decorate their homes”.

The support we have had from the Enjoolata Foundation has been remarkable. In the early stages of the Pandemic when funding was incredibly difficult for the charity, they stepped in with some much needed support for Patchwork Farm, our therapeutic care farm, which has been a life-saver during the pandemic for our residential young people. At the same time, they became the lead funder for our new Vision Fund with a significant donation towards the charity’s work for the next three years. They are great to work with and take an active interest in the charity. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do for the children and young people at Chailey Heritage Foundation.