Charity at Sparkle
Our love of elephants has driven us to foster a four month old baby elephant Naipoki, who was orphaned when just 3 months old, and rescued from a well. Naipoki means "something painted" in the Maa language. Naipoki is unique in that she oozes intelligence and charm, and is adored by all the other baby elephants and the keepers.
We adopted Naipoki from The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and more information is available at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
In 2010, Sparkle Dental Boutique donated £1,000, to the Seema Sharma Foundation. After appearing in Channel 4's "Slumdog Millionaire", Seema established a new charity to help underprivileged communities in East London and India. Two projects the foundation helps include the Doorstep School where a bus equipped to be used as a class room goes out into the community and Toybank which seeks to help children express themselves and to be more in tune with their lives and circumstances through play.
In 2010, back in the UK, we donated £3,000 to Hounslow Youth Counselling Service (HYCS) an essential and free confidential service for all young people living, working or studying in the London Borough of Hounslow. HYCS offers a one-to-one counselling for young people from all sections of the community and provides a safe supportive environment and counsellors for young children to talk to about their problems. More information is available from www.hycscounselling.co.uk
In 2009, Team Sparkle participated in a sponsored walk, walking 18 miles over the bridges of London. The team raised over £3,500, for a children's charity which helps slum children in Goa, India with education, food, shelter and medication. Kavita, our practice manager also spent three weeks in Goa, helping in the slum. Her activities included helping children with homework, reading and speaking in English and organising play activities.
In 2009, we donated £2,000 for a rain harvesting project in Bangalore, India. The donation was used to provide a whole village with guttering and tanks so that they could collect rain water to feed livestock and be used for domestic use and agriculture. This also helped save villagers time travelling long distances to fetch water.
In 2008, Sunita and Kavita both finished their training as volunteers for Voluntary Reading Help, a national charity that helps children who struggle with their reading to develop a love of reading and learning. They read with three children in a local school in Hanwell to help build their confidence and their reading skills.
In 2007, Sunita and Kavita both spent Christmas in a remote village in Lallsott, India. Staying in a hut made of cow dung, they spent time each day reading with children and teaching English. They also spent their time painting the classrooms, to make the environment more warm, welcoming and conducive to learning.
