Mike Sherriff is taking part in a sleepout at Dhaka Railway Station with the Executive Director of the Dhaka organisation, Street Children LEEDO. Mike Is doing this in his role as Chair of the UK Charity Friends of Street Children Bangladesh.

We are asking you to donate to support this initiative to help street connected children. You can do so at: https://www.goldengiving.com/fundraising/sleepout

The funds raised will help to pay for girls from the LEEDO Peace Home (a long term residential centre for children who were once surviving on the streets) to take part in the Street Child United Football World Cup, being held in Doha in October 2022 (https://www.streetchildunited.org/our-sports-events/street-child-world-cup-doha-2022/) It is the first time a team of street children from Bangladesh will take part in such a Football tournament. It will be a life transforming opportunity for them.

The event also aims to raise awareness about the issues of concern to children who have survived on the streets. You can join the sleep out via Facebook Live from 1pm on Sunday 27^th February. It will begin with street theatre and songs form the girls at the Peace Home taking part in the Football tournament: https://www.facebook.com/friendsofscbd

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh exists to help children surviving on the streets and to provide opportunities for them to have a better future. These are children who are hungry, whose sleeping place is often the railway station or the launch terminal, and who face exploitation and abuse daily. In 2019 we supported a team of children from LEEDO Peace Home to take part in the Street Child Cricket World Cup, held in London and Cambridge, UK. I have since witnessed the huge difference that taking part in an international sporting tournament makes to the participants. For example, one girl who left her family when they tried to force her into marriage at the age of 12 came to Dhaka and eventually found a place at the LEEDO Peace Home. Following participation in the cricket tournament she has taken on many responsibilities at the Peace Home in Dhaka and now runs a street school for other children. She has just started a course to train to be a nurse.

Any support you give to this initiative will make a huge difference and is very much appreciated.