Special thanks to Lothlorien Winery for sponsoring First Thursdays!!!

Founded in the UK in 1990 by Dame Anita Roddick, Children on the Edge has expanded globally, working with the world’s most vulnerable children. Children on the Edge NZ was founded in 2006 to support the forgotten children of Burma. For over 40 years, almost unnoticed by the international community, one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world has ruled the country of Burma. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been forced to flee the violence and instability of their homeland to neighbouring countries like Thailand.

Thousands of children, some orphaned and others unaccompanied, live in refugee camps or rural areas of Thailand facing extreme poverty and hunger. It is these children that Children on the Edge support, through schools and boarding houses, providing the children with food and drinking water, giving them a place of safety, free from war, oppression, child trafficking and a place they can access one of their basic human rights, an education. Education is akin to survival for these children. With learning comes hope and with hope comes change. Children on the Edge reaches these children through partnerships, determination, love, and the spirit of generosity.

Children on the Edge’s most recent project, Little Lotus Project is a collaborative art project, linking four New Zealand artists with refugee and migrant children on the Thai/Burma border. Working in partnership with the international charity, Tanja Jade (aka Misery), Peap Tarr, Pat Shepherd and Alex Chalmers will visit Children on the Edge sponsored schools in Nov 2010 and work with the children on a variety of art projects. Access to education and art supplies is a luxury for these children and all funds raised from Little Lotus will go towards their ongoing welfare and education. Follow Little Lotus on the adventure.