STARS UNITE FOR ANTI-ORPHANAGE CHARITY CAMPAIGN ‘END THE SILENCE’
- Sir Elton, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson, Emeli Sande, Paloma Faith and Paul Weller help launch ‘End the Silence’ campaign supported by YouTube in aid of UK-based charity Hope and Homes for Children.
- endthesilence.com will create world’s largest online childhood musical memory collection and raise £1.5m for children deprived of love, family and music in orphanages.
- 80 per cent of the eight million children confined to orphanages are not orphans – most have parents, but are given up due to poverty, disabilities or discrimination.
- Donations to End the Silence campaign will be doubled by the UK Government’s UKAid Match scheme – helping 120,000 children leave African orphanages for families.
Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson, Emeli Sande, Paloma Faith and Paul Weller are among a host of world renowned musicians to join Elton in making exclusive videos on YouTube where they share their most precious childhood songs and memories for the ‘End the Silence’ campaign supported by YouTube (videos available to watch today on the artist’s YouTube channels and endthesilence.com).
The biggest names in pop are urging the public to follow them down musical memory lane using endthesilence.com. The interactive music memory time capsule has been built by the UK-based charity Hope and Homes for Children. It allows people to pick their most precious childhood song, and then share it on social media with a memory.
The End the Silence campaign aims to create the world’s largest online musical memory time capsule before Christmas, while raising £1.5m in donations. This will help Hope and Homes for Children find families for 120,000 children suffering silence and neglect in Ugandan and Rwandan orphanages.
Mark Waddington, CEO of Hope and Homes for Children, explained: “When a baby in an orphanage cries and nobody comes to comfort them, they learn not to cry.
“By internalising their pain, they suffer lifelong mental and physical damage.
“Deprived of love, life, and hope, these children grow up in silence. They never hear laughter or music. These children will never experience the love and protection only a family can offer.
“The idea of a childhood of silence and neglect in an orphanage – without love, family and music – is unacceptable.
“By joining the world’s top musicians in sharing your most precious childhood musical memory, you can help us to end the silence.”
Every pound donated to the End the Silence campaign before December 27th will be doubled by the UK Government as part of its UK Aid Match scheme.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: “No child should have to spend their childhood in an orphanage, deprived of the love and support only a family can bring. Through their End the Silence Campaign, Hope and Homes for Children is providing struggling individuals with the life changing support that’s needed to keep families together.
“Every donation made by the generous British public to the End the Silence appeal will be matched pound for pound by the UK Government, meaning we will double the difference Britons can make to those children in Rwanda and Uganda, who are suffering in silence.”
“We are delighted to partner with Hope and Homes on the End The Silence campaign to help bring support and joy through music to those in need. As YouTube is a place where artists and fans come together to immerse themselves in memories through video and music, this is a natural partnership for a deeply meaningful cause.” – Candice Morrissey, Head of Music Content Partnerships, EMEA, YouTube
Forthcoming films in the End The Silence campaign will include Damon Albarn, Bastille’s Dan Smith, The Clash’s Paul Simonon, Rudimental’s Amir Amor, Hozier, and Anne-Marie. All films are produced by Fulwell73 (One Direction films, BBC’s Sounds Like Friday Night, Carpool Karaoke.)
Hope and Homes for Children’s End the Silence campaign will fund the first orphanage closure for children with disabilities in Rwanda, as well as support Uganda in taking the first steps to becoming orphanage-free.
Dedicated social workers will work with children confined to orphanages, tracing their families and giving them the support they need to become a family again. Where this isn’t possible, specialist foster families will be trained to give the children the love and security they need to thrive.
To ensure no child suffers silently in an orphanage, share your most precious childhood musical memory at endthesilence.com, or look out for #endthesilence and #Ukaid on Twitter.
For more information, high res images or exclusive b-roll film, contact DawBell on 020 3327 7111 or email: endthesilence@dawbell.c
Notes to editor:
About Hope and Homes for Children
- An estimated eight million children live in orphanages worldwide.
- Orphanages are unnecessary, because 80 per cent of children confined to them are not orphans – most have living parents, but have been abandoned because of poverty, disabilities or discrimination.
- 100 years of scientific research shows how children in orphanages are exposed to greater levels of neglect, abuse and even trafficking.
- In some orphanages, mortality rates can even be as high as 80 per cent.
- Even when a child leaves an orphanage, they are 10 times more likely to enter prostitution and 40 times more likely to get a criminal record.
- It can be 10 times more cost effective to support struggling parents with social services than to fund orphanages.
- Hope and Homes for Children demonstrates to governments how to close orphanages by preventing child abandonment, developing family support services and establishing foster and adoption care networks.
- Hope and Homes for Children works directly in eight countries, and supports likeminded partner organisations in another 20.
- We believe it really is possible to achieve the global eradication of orphanages.
- To help transform a child’s life visit www.hopeandhomes.org
About End the silence
- Hope and Homes for Children’s End the Silence campaign is asking everyone to share the most precious musical memories from their childhood.
- By joining the world’s leading music talent in adding your musical memory, you will be helping to end the silence for the eight million children confined to orphanages around the world.
- Every pound you donate to the End the Silence campaign before 27th December will be matched by the UK Government.
- This means that together, we can reach over 120,000 children across Rwanda and Uganda who are currently confined to orphanages or at risk of being separated from their families and placed in institutions.
- End the Silence is supported by the UK Government, YouTube, Google and Fullwell73.
- To ensure no child suffers silently in an orphanage, share your most precious childhood musical memory at endthesilence.com, or look out for #endthesilence and #Ukaid on Twitter.
- Together we can End the Silence