Blue Magpie Foundation

This October, your steps in BMF’s "10K a Day Challenge" can help change lives. 🌍👟 £10 provides a student with a day of coding classes in the UK. 💻 £70 funds a month of English classes for 20 children in Sri Lanka. 📚 £150 pays for a day trip for 50 children, broadening their horizons. 🚀 These small amounts go a long way. Together, we’re walking toward brighter futures for young people across the globe! Let’s make every step count! 💪 #WalkWithBMF #10KaDayChallenge #EmpowerYouth #SupportEducation #BrighterFutures https://lnkd.in/ecR8yUzN

BMF’s 10K a Day Challenge is here! This October, we invite you to walk with purpose and help us empower young people through education and support. Whether it’s a coding class in the UK or an English lesson in Sri Lanka, every step you take brings us closer to our goal of £3,000. 🎓👟 You can walk, fundraise, or donate to help us make a lasting impact. Together, we can create pathways to brighter futures for children across the world. 💪 Join the movement! #WalkWithBMF #EmpoweringYouth #10KaDayChallenge #BrighterFutures https://lnkd.in/ecR8yUzN

Let’s make every step count this October! 🚶♀️ BMF’s "10K a Day Challenge" is underway, and we’re raising funds to empower children in the UK and Sri Lanka through education. Whether it’s a coding class or a talent showcase, your steps will help build a brighter future for the next generation. 🌟 Help us reach our £3,000 goal by walking or donating. Together, we’ll take strides toward lasting change! 💪 Join us now! #WalkWithBMF #EmpoweringYouth #BrighterFutures #10KaDayChallenge

This October, we’re stepping up for change—literally! 🚶♂️ We’re excited to launch the "10K a Day Challenge" as part of our mission to empower children and young adults through education and support. 🌟 Every step we take is a step towards brighter futures for those who need it most. By walking 10,000 steps a day, we’re raising awareness and funds to provide essential resources, mentorship, and opportunities for young people to thrive. 🎓💼 How can you get involved? Walk with us: Lace up your shoes and join us in the challenge! Track your steps daily and encourage your network to do the same. 💪 Donate: Not able to walk? You can still make a huge impact by donating to support our cause. Every contribution matters and brings us one step closer to reaching our goal. 🌍 By participating, you’ll be helping to change lives, open doors, and create lasting impact for the next generation. Let’s come together and #walkwithbmf to make a meaningful difference. Ready to make your steps count? Let’s go! 👟 #BrighterFutures #EmpoweringChildren #10KaDayChallenge

🌟 Join the 10K Steps Challenge this October! 🌟 We at Blue Magpie Foundation (BMF) are excited to launch our 10K Steps Challenge to raise funds for our work in both Sri Lanka and the UK. Our mission is to empower young people from war-affected regions and disadvantaged communities by providing them with essential education and skills development opportunities. This October, we challenge you to walk 10,000 steps every day to support our efforts in teaching children and young adults English and IT skills, equipping them with the tools they need to improve their futures. Whether it's our Madduvil Programme in Jaffna or our educational initiatives in the UK, your involvement will help young people gain valuable skills, confidence, and opportunities for employment and personal growth. Here's how you can get involved: 1️⃣ Take on the challenge and walk 10K steps every day in October. 2️⃣ Encourage others to join the movement by sharing this post. 3️⃣ Donate via our JustGiving page to support our mission. 4️⃣ Follow our journey to see the real-world impact your support will have on these young lives. Every step you take will make a difference in helping us create lasting change for young people in Sri Lanka and the UK. Together, we can walk towards a brighter future! 🌍👣 💙 Learn more and donate here: https://lnkd.in/e5xjsq3H #walkwithBMF #BlueMagpieFoundation #CharityChallenge #EducationForAll #EmpowerYouth #WalkForACause #SriLanka #UK

On Friday, August 23rd, 2024, I approached the leadership at Blue Magpie Foundation, pitching a promotional video for their organisation. On Friday, September 20th, 2024, I delivered the final cut of a film spotlighting BMF's incredible NextGen Dev initiative, which teaches tech skills to young people, ages 15-25. I did not expect this to come together in four weeks. There's usually quite a bit of red tape to jump through on projects like this, but everyone involved was on the same page from the jump. Projects do not always go this smoothly, so it feels important to celebrate the ones that do. And we were aided by one of the best young interviewees I've worked with -- massive shout out to Rehan! Check out the final cut below. (For those wondering, I produced/shot/directed/scripted/edited this one -- do get in touch if you need a one man band for any similar projects)

💫Today marks 8 years since the Blue Magpie Foundation was created. What started as an idea in 2016, co-founded by my wife, Thivya Ananthan, and myself, has grown into something far greater than we ever imagined. Our journey started in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, where we moved with our 3-month-old baby to work directly with young people affected by the civil war. Some of the children and young people we worked with had disabilities as a result of the conflict. We launched two key programmes: Phoenix, aimed at young people aged 17-25 with disabilities, where they were taught English for six months, followed by IT skills. Despite the challenges of securing a location, the programme was a success, and we even managed to secure short-term employment contracts for some of the young people with companies in Colombo. Watching them gain confidence and earn their own income was an incredible experience. Madduvil, a conversational English programme for children aged 5-21, which helped boost both their language skills and their confidence. We organised a special event where students showcased their talents, followed by a funfair, showing that our focus is as much on self-worth and motivation as it is on education. After 1.5 years, we returned to the UK but continued our work in Sri Lanka, ensuring that our programmes remained strong. Since COVID-19, we’ve also realised that there’s so much we can do here in the UK. In the past year, we’ve been focusing our efforts in Harrow, delivering educational sessions to young people in the Grange Farm estate. Now, we aim to expand this across the 31 estates in Harrow. We’ve also launched two new initiatives: NextGen Dev, where we teach young people coding, ethical hacking, and other digital skills to prepare them for the future of work. Bright Path, a mentoring and tutoring programme that supports children with academic work, while also focusing on their wellbeing. Looking back, I feel deeply grateful for how far the Blue Magpie Foundation has come. The journey hasn’t always been easy, whether in securing locations in Sri Lanka or getting the right support here in the UK but now we are working with Harrow Council and getting interest from local schools! Today, with a team of 35 dedicated volunteers and no permanent paid staff, we’ve created something truly special. I'm reminded that when passionate, ordinary professionals come together, they can achieve the extraordinary. Thanks again to all our amazing volunteers! 🤩😊 If you’d like to get involved with our work and be part of our future projects, feel free to reach out! 🤝

I'm really proud to share that we’ve just wrapped up the very first NextGen Dev programme, a 5-week tech bootcamp launched by Blue Magpie Foundation in partnership with Harrow Council’s Youth Justice Service. This is a pioneering initiative - the first of its kind for young people in Harrow - and I’m excited by how well it was received. Last week, we held a graduation for the young people who took part, where they were awarded Certificates of Excellence and individual trophies. Each award highlighted their unique strengths and growth throughout the programme, and it was a privilege to see them shine. The very next day, one of the students secured a place at the college he applied for after a successful interview. The college was impressed with his participation in NextGen Dev, which really showed the immediate impact the programme has had. This wasn’t just about learning tech skills – it was about giving young people the chance to discover new opportunities, gain confidence, and realise their potential. Seeing the direct effect on their futures has been incredibly rewarding. A huge thank you to Patrick Chou for his brilliant teaching, Ryan Simon for organising and bringing this programme to life with Harrow Council, and Shanthosh Ananthan for delivering a powerful and inspiring guest speech. This is just the first of many NextGen Dev programmes, and I’m excited to expand this across Harrow to reach even more young people. There’s so much more to come! 💫

Help us empower young people in technology! We are crowd funding for our NextGen Dev programme with the Harrow Council. 🤝 Hope you can help us reach our target of £1500 to purchase refurbished laptops to conduct our free programming lessons. 🔥 Find out more below :) 💫

Today, I am excited to announce the launch of our "NextGen Dev" programme in partnership with Harrow Council's Youth Justice Service! We at Blue Magpie Foundation are thrilled to be empowering the young people of Harrow through this innovative initiative. "NextGen Dev" stands for the next generation of developers, unleashing excellence. Over the next 5 weeks, participants will learn to create a mobile game app and gain foundational knowledge in ethical hacking. This programme represents a fantastic opportunity for these young individuals to develop valuable skills and open new doors for their futures. We are working closely with Ryan Simon from Harrow Council. Patrick Chou will be conducting the lessons, with Ancuta A. assisting. We are immensely proud of this partnership and look forward to expanding these programmes throughout the borough. Together, we can make a significant impact on the lives of the youth in our community. Let's go, NextGen Dev!💫 #Empowerment #YouthDevelopment #NextGenDev #Coding #EthicalHacking #CommunityImpact #BlueMagpieFoundation #HarrowYouth