Shaquon’s Holiday of
a Lifetime
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| Shaquon at home in Barbados |
What does it take to make your dream come true? Well,
there are many different answers but supposing you are confined to a wheelchair
with an illness that realistically makes it hard for you to compete in the
commercial world? Particularly as you need to truly value yourself and then
identify any talents that you can use and find ways to capitalize on them. Sometimes our dreams may occasionally be answered in the most
surprising way as Shaquon discovered. When Karen Miles met him in Barbados last summer Shaquon hadn't the slightest idea that she would prove to be his living Angel!
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| Karen Miles - Shaquon's super hero! |
This is not a fairy story although it must have seemed
pretty unreal to Shaquon and certainly seems like one-‘Bajan boy with Spina
Bifida flies to London with Love.’ Not what you would call an everyday
occurrence and it has taken Karen a year’s worth of dedication and organisation
to raise thousands of pounds in order to meet her promise, along the lines of;
‘What’s your biggest dream Shaqoun?’~ ‘To visit London and see the sights,’~ ‘I
will make it happen by this time next year, you will visit London.’
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| Time To Shine- Smiles |
Karen has been fortunate in having a solid team around her- people who were infected by her enthusiasm and shared the vision, wanting to make a difference to the life of one individual. Along these lines, my involvement, however small, arose as a part of Team
Urban Delight Entertainment- founded by Macky McPherson who has taken part in many
charity events which have touched his heart and in addition has organised some of his own. Macky
worked with Karen to help organise a fantastic fund raiser. Urban Delight
artists performed throughout the evening bringing a mix of musical styles to an
appreciative audience.
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| Rapper- Saint Paul laying it down |
Urban Delight artists showed their distinctive styles and owned the stage
even during the occasional technical hitch- you know the type that grace many
an event!
Macky was busy rolling out tunes, revealing his skills a first class
DJ- catch him Thursday evenings at the Ashanti Lounge- we like it like that
Macky! In fact, this coming Thursday we have our monthly Ashanti Lounge Live
event where Urban Delight artists will be performing.
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| Ting N Ting Caterer- downing a well deserved glass |
Besides musical entertainment, Karen arranged for award winning caterers,
Ting N Ting ( Abbey Mills, Merton) to lay on some excellent Caribbean cuisine providing a choice of curry goat or jerk chicken. Congrats as
the curry goat was incredibly tasty and tender- BIG UP for that. I’m sure the
jerk chicken was just as good – some like it hot and some do not!!
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| Up for auction! |
No charity event is complete without a raffle and in this case
there were so many prizes I even won one- now empty of wine and chocolates, that wicker
basket’s going to come in handy for my Granddaughter’s baby toys! On top of the
fabulous raffle prizes Karen held a ‘sealed bids’ auction with some seriously
good items including an AFC shirt signed by Jack Turner and boxing
gloves signed by Amir Khan. Another incredible achievement!
Prior to this event Karen had already raised over £7000
pounds and has since been invited to attend the Barbados High Commission. This Saturday is the icing on the cake when we will meet Shaquon right here in the UK. I cannot imagine how hard Karen & friends/family have worked but no reward will be as great as the joy in Shaquon's face now that his dream has come true.
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| Together we achieve! |
Final thought: We have recently been sharing the Journey To Justice Campaign which is about over coming social injustice. Whilst Karen's campaign is not dealing with injustice, Karen is spreading love and doing her part to help someone less fortunate than herself. This is a brilliant example of 'the power of one' which we can all take to heart and learn from. Again, a good strong team tapping into the generosity of others has achieved the desired result. Congratulations Karen~ You are BRAAP!
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| Everyday I'm Hustling! |
To follow Shaquon's journey link Karen Miles on Facebook.
Jaz McKenzie
If you have a great story contact: itsbraap@live.co.uk
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